Brathas will fire two more arrows at the greyscale ape.
One arrow flies wide, but another finds its mark, though not in a vital area.
Ana swings again over the head of Ferrous, and manages a glancing blow.
Seeing the ape on the right get hit a few more times, Zynazyr takes out a dagger and throws it past Fistep, hoping to finish the ape off.
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Fistep strikes a cunning blow to the ape to the left. The ape howls.
Brathas shoots the ape to the right, and then Ana swings her halberd and strikes the ape in the shoulder. The cut drives into the ape's neck, and the ape collapses in a spray of blood.
Seeing the ape on the right get hit a few more times, Zynazyr takes out a dagger and throws it past Fistep, hoping to finish the ape off.
Zynazyr throws a dagger which grazes the ape's arm.
Round 4 Initiative
Block 1: Wallia
Block 2: White Apes
Block 3: Ana, Brathas, Ferrous, Fistep, Zynazyr
Round 5 Initiative
Block 1: Ana, Brathas, Fistep, Zynazyr
Block 2: White Apes
Block 3: Ferrous, Wallia.
Swings at the ape, trying to finish off the poor brute.
Ana sidesteps to her left and swings at the other ape.
Ferrous shuffles around behind the ape for a better angle, and swings his axe.
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Ana and Fistep both miss. But Ferrous brains the ape from behind with his axe, and it collapses in a heap.
Combat Over.
A quick search of the room reveals no treasure or secret doors, but there is a space behind the wooden sarcophagus and the wall. Behind the sarcophagus at floor level is a small hole, similar to the other holes you saw which led to the fire beetle nest. It looks like after passing through the wall the tunnel goes up and to the left.
The sarcophagus itself has a lid on its front with hinges on the left hand side. Nobody detects any traps on the sarcophagus.
The ape carcasses are pretty large, and will provide 36 half-meals worth of meat.
Walia tries to ascertain the religious significance of the sarcophagus but looking at it but not touching it.
Wisdom
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Walia tries to ascertain the religious significance of the sarcophagus but looking at it but not touching it.
Wisdom 1d20
Wallia believes that the picture on the front probably depicts the man who is interred within. It is a little odd that the sarcophagus seems to be upright rather than lying down, but Wallia doesn't know what the significance of that might be.
Walia then searches the ape corpses for anything important.
Zynazyr also examines the sarcophagus trying to detect magic.
"It's possible this tunnel connects to the others we found. We don't need those fire beetles coming in here while we are busy searching," Zynazyr says as he concentrates on the sarcophagus.
Points the priest at the injured party members, Let me search these foul beasts, perhaps you help Ferrous and Ana who were injured..
Brathas heeds Zynazyr's words. He will stand guard over the beetle tunnel with his axe in both hands, while the wizard examines the sarcophagus.
Ana shakes her head. "No, my friend. I am unhurt. Save your ministrations for one who needs them."
Walia looks at the man with the bad diction and says, "I have been injured as well."
He then looks at Ferrous.
He then says, "My dwarfen...dwarven friend, I think in the books I have seen both spellings. One may be an archaic form however in the religious texts they refer to your people as Zwerg or Zwergli. Fascinating stuff I might add."
Walia moves over to Ferrous and cast CLW on him
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Walia then searches the ape corpses for anything important.
A closer search of the ape carcasses reveals only fleas. While they were smart enough to throw rocks, they are still animals, and don't wear things or wield weapons.
Zynazyr also examines the sarcophagus trying to detect magic.
Zynazyr takes extra time to examine the sarcophagus. After 10 minutes of concentration, he is convinced that something magical lies within.
"I have been injured as well."
Walia moves over to Ferrous and cast CLW on him 1d8 ⇒ 8
Wallia heals Ferrous for 5 hp.
Ferrous shivers as the cleric mutters his prayers as he moves his hands over the wounds on Ferrous's side. The bruises on his ribs change color from an angry black to a tinged yellow. The dwarf's breathing becomes easier.
Many thanks my friend. Anyway maybe we should proceed with more caution going forward. The two of us especially. He says the last part with a wink and a wince.
Walia says, "Do you think you need a little extra healing or would what the gods have done already tide you over? Those beetle glands may not be as valuable as I had previously thought however tossing them away willy nilly is also somewhat...ur...um.. tempting fortune in an unnecessary way." as the friar chuckles.
He then says, "We seem to have pretty good JUJU in our group."
Glares at the priest, They were not tossed way. I am not a frivolous man, most warriors are not. He sighs and shakes his head, They were tossed in so we, unlike Ferrous and Anna, who are merely human could see what we were facing.
Walia says, "You did say that we should go somewhere else. So I thought they were important and ran in after them. Maybe these glands are much easier to harvest than I assumed."
Ana tries to move the lid of the sarcophagus. "Normally I'm not a fan of grave robbing, but if something that may help us lies within, I think it best that we see exactly what it might be."
Ferrous shakes his head at the cleric's offer of more healing.
Best save your prayers for later when they are needed by others. I am fine. Just a few bruises and minor cuts. I will feel better in the morning.
The dwarf sees the elf struggling with the lid of the sarcophagus and moves to help remove it muttering.
Don't like disturbing any bodies but not like the dead need their treasures anyways.
Walia gets behind them with his holy symbol at the ready in the event an undead creature were to pop out of the sarcophagus.
Brathas switches back to his bow and takes up a position by the door to the room.
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Together, Ferrous and Ana are able to pry the sarcophagus open without too much difficulty.
Standing in the sarcophagus is another figure dressed in plate mail. He holds a two-handed sword; the point rests at his feet, and a scabbard is on his back.
Ana determines that the magical aura is coming from the sword, and quickly identifies it as a first-order enchantment.
The plate mail is similar to the suit now worn by Fistep and could be worn by Wallia or Ana.
Inside the suit of plate mail is a withered corpse. Clearly it has been here a long time. It does not stir as the party removes the armor from the corpse and Wallia detects no sign of evil.
Looks over at the sword, Nice sword, you should wield it Ana... Steps over and surveys the small tunnel.
Ana gratefully accepts the sword and looks over the plate mail. "Heavy, but certainly very useful. Wallia, do you mind?"
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Looks over at the sword, Nice sword, you should wield it Ana... Steps over and surveys the small tunnel.
Fistep looks at the tunnel. It would be a tough squeeze to fit behind the sarcophagus with all his gear, but he could probably manage it.
The small tunnel seems to go straight in for two or three feet and then turns sharply to the left, and slopes upwards. You can't see very far without actually sticking your head in.
Walia says, "Sure, I will get the next suit."
"I'd like to explore these tunnels, but I don't see a practical way to do so. If we are crawling, we cannot defend ourselves well. Maybe we could fish for beetles with a baited hook? For now, I think we should move on."
Perhaps you taller folk should let someone more suitable for these perfectly shaped tunnels and passageways scout for you.
Ferrous said as he stuck his head into the passageway. Peering down the passageway with his infravision.
Before Ferrous takes off, Walia says, "You should try this shield, it might help you a little bit."
Zynazyr nods at Brathas' suggestion. "This is probably another entrance for the fire beetle nest we found earlier. At some point we can look to clear them out but I agree we should move on for now. Why don't we continue down the hall," he says while making sure he has retrieved all his weapons and the beetle glands.
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Ferrous said as he stuck his head into the passageway. Peering down the passageway with his infravision.
Ferrous crawls behind the sarcophagus and pokes his head into the hole.
The passage looks similar to the one he crawled through before. Once through the stone wall of the chamber it turns sharply left and then slopes upwards. After 10' or so it seems to then curve right into a larger chamber and Ferrous is fairly certain that this is the same chamber he saw with all the Fire Beetles.
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The party carefully proceeds down the hallway to the south.
The hallway is long, and aside from the decorative trip on the plaster near the ceiling, basically featureless. All is quiet.
The hallway continues for 100' to the south, and then turns east. It runs for another 150' before turning northwards again.
At the turn to the north, Ana realizes that the south wall is fake, and actually conceals a large secret door almost 10' wide and 10' high. The party examines this door for traps, but finds none. The way to open this door is not obvious.
Ferrous looks over the secret door and not finding any means to open it suggests Some doors like this can only be opened from one side. Might be the case here too.
So press on then?
"I'm not so certain. True, some doors are one-way, but until we have exhausted all possibilities, I don't think that we can discount any." Ana says, examining the area. She is looking for out of place stones or protrusions, hidden pressure plates, etc.