"Wow," Merutep breathes, momentarily amazed by the moving sarcophagus trap. "I did not see that coming!"
From her perch atop Merutep's shoulder, Aya squawks loudly in her mistresses ear.
"Oh! Right!" Merutep exclaims, Startled back to the present by her beloved kite.
Merutep throws her arms out to the sides, holding them out and wide as if waiting for an embrace. She speaks loudly and with poise, a surprisingly commanding sight despite the circumstances. "Isis! Hear my prayers! Heed my call! Enshroud my companions in your protective embrace! Grant them your blessing!"
As she speaks her eyes shine so brightly they glow with an inner light and her hair is so glossy its nearly luminous.
As Merutep prays, Aya shuffles down her shoulder, hypnotically travelling from her shoulder to her wrist, and finally settling in her hand. Aya's eyes shine bright yellow, clearly illuminating an area around her, and her feathers seem to shimmer yellow golden in the surrounding light.
"Be careful, the thing seems designed to trap and suffocate its opponents."
Caius leaps into action, launching himself onto the platform, and rolling into the flank of the object.
He then quickly draws his rapier and aims a quick thrust.
Startled, Marius scrambles out of the way. Recovering, he draws his longsword and swings at the suddenly moving sarcophagus. With his nerves still rattled his swing misses the coffin entirely.
Rashim gathers his will and points at a nearby chunk of masonry which had collapsed from the roof of the chamber some time in the past. Focusing on the rock it begins to levitate, then with a flick of his wrist he sends the missile skyrocketing towards the sarcophagus.
Hibbins lobs a bomb to the other side of the sarcophagus which shatters on impact and though the bulk of the creature shields the others from the splash, the acid itself does little to no damage to the coffin itself.
Rashim's rock strikes the creature solidly, scratching the paint and chipping the wood underneath.
Caius vaults up onto the platform and stabs at the creature with his rapier but his strike goes wide.
Marius scrambles back from the suddenly animated coffin and barely manages not to trip over his own feet as he draws his sword and slashes at the creature but his off balance swipe misses entirely
Merutep calls down the blessings of the old gods, bolstering the resolve of her companions.
Meriui moves up next to Marius and plants his shield next to the bard, ready to defend if needed.
The creature attacks Marius, the one who defiled it, with the lid of the sarcophagus slamming into him with great force. Stunned he can only offer token resistance as the lid tries to shut with him inside.
"Marius? I'll try to keep you covered, back away if you can."
Merutep takes a few steps over, to get a clearer view of the sarcophagus. Then she draws a long, slender, dart and sends it flying at the sarcophagus with a flick of her wrist.
Caius stands his ground bolstered by Merutep's blessing. He thrusts his rapier at the object, determination on his face, as he watches it assault Marius.
"Take that fiend!" he shouts as strikes the object.
Rashim takes a cautious step back after seeing the heavy thing slam into Marius. Bet that hurt... With a glance, he finds another piece of old rock, and again the shard begins to levitate. A clench of the fist sends it flying in toward the sarcophagus.
Dr. Hibbins rethinks his whole life path and stays out of peoples ways, vowing to come up with a new bomb for just these kinds of occasions.
Marius struggles to keep the lid from closing on himself but is unable to get enough leverage to keep it open.
The good doctor takes a moment to reflect on his career choice as he contemplates another way of inflicting damage on creatures other than undead and constructs.
Rashim launches another chunk of masonry at the creature, striking a serious blow against it.
Caius' rapier strikes a weak point on the creature, causing more of the stonework to fly free.
Marius attempts to stop the lid from closing but can't muster the strength as soon only his fingertips are showing from within the sarcophagus.
Merutep throws one of her darts at the coffin but with the confusion of combat swirling around it, her throw goes wide and sails harmlessly over everyone's heads.
Meriui attempts to block the sarcophagus' lid from shutting on Marius, but it is too little, too late as Marius is already in it's grasp.
With Marius securely within it's grasp, the creature slams the lid shut successfully trapping the bard within.
"No!" Merutep shouts. She draws another dart and throws it at the sarcophagus, not sure if it's going to help any.
As her dart misses again, Merutep looks worried.
This isn't working! Isis, help me! What should I do?
Caius seems distraught as he watches his comrade trapped within the tomb.
"Hold on Marius!" he says as he stabs at the object.
He then rolls backwards, tumbling down the stairs, to provide an area for Hibbins to throw.
=
Cursing in Kelish under his breath, the young paladin drops both his scimitar and tower shield, pulling out his flail. "See if we can knock the lid off!" He swings the flail at the side of the sarcophagus where the lid remained attached as it swallowed Marius.
Rashim's jaw drops as the bloody thing swallows Marius whole. He quickly sends another piece of stone flying in to try to break the thing apart. His shock distracts him, though, as this time the stone slings far wide.
From within the coffin Marius struggles to push open the lid and escape.
Dr. Hibbins mixes his concoction again and throws it directly at the sarcophagus. The vial strikes the stone coffin and shatters, spraying acid directly across it's painted surface.
Merutep's dart follows the same oath as her previous one as it too sails harmlessly overhead.
Caius and Meriui both hit the stone sarcophagus but do little damage to the creature besides chipping more of the gold leaf off of it.
Hibbins bomb detonates as it hits the coffin, spraying caustic acid over it's surface, removing the layers of paint and pitting the stone underneath.
Rashim's rock seems to follow Merutep's dart of somewhere off in the distance.
Marius manages to to get the lid open enough for him to stick his arm out and wiggle himself halfway out of the sarcophagus' chamber.
The Sarcophagus opens it's lid a little wider as it shifts from side to side to toss Marius back inside before slamming the lid shut on the bard.
Seeing as he has a little more room to throw his acids, Hibbins continues with the only real thing he can do.
Merutep pulls out a vial of acid from her belt pouch and hurls it at the sarcophagus.
Trying to find a way to make the difference, the young man tries to take his flail across the acid-scarred portions of the lid . . ..
With his last miss, Rashim grimaces just a little. Get it together, man! Focus! He narrows his eyes, takes more careful aim, and sends another piece of rubble flying at the object.
Caius darts forward and thrusts his rapier into the tomb once again.
Marius continues to try and push the lid open.
As the lid slams shut you can hear Marius screaming and pounding from inside the coffin as he tries vainly to escape.
Hibbins bomb explodes across the sarcophagus' surface causing more pitting and cracks to appear, while Merutep's flask adds little or no additional damage to the creature.
Meriui flail bangs harmlessly off the stone surface.
Rashim's missile and Caius' rapier both strike the creature, causing more fine cracks to appear.
With Marius securely locked inside the sacophagus turns to Caius and tries to slam into him only to have the Swashbuckler nimbly dodge out of the way.
Aya nudges Merutep in the cheek, then locks eyes with her. They stare at each other for a moment, then Aya suddenly returns her gaze to the man-eating sarcophagus.
After locking eyes with her kite, Merutep smiles.
"You're right. I need to focus."
She draws another vial of acid from her belt pouch, looks at the sarcophagus, and takes a deep, calming breath.
"Focus."
"Ooops..."
Aya bows her head and shakes it as Merutep's acid goes flying completely off target.
The beautiful bird sighs in exasperation.
"I'm running low on supplies guys, let's get this over quickly"
The Alchemist's bomb hit in the exact same place a the one before. The fine lines and cracks expand and ripple outward, until the lid of the sarcophagus shatters. The creature falls to the ground with a loud thud. The room falls silent as the only sound is that of Marius, gasping ofr air, as he emerges from his tomb.
"Son of a B!#*%" Marius exclaims as he climbs out of the sarcophagus and kicks a shard of the lid across the room in anger. Turning to the others he says "Thank you. It was starting to get a little close in there."
"Yes, they did well to rescue you." As he goes about recovering the belongings he had scattered earlier.
Caius stands in shock for a moment. He then clasps a hand on Marius's shoulder. "Welcome back Marius."
He then looks to Meriui and Merutep. "We...did well. I'm glad to have you alongside us."
Merutep hurries over to Marius to ensure he's well. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
After fussing over Marius' wounds, Merutep looks at her other group-mates, checking to see if they are wounded.
At Caius' words Merutep smiles brightly. "Why thank-you! I'm happy to be here! Even with man-eating sarcophagi."
In a contrast to Merutep's excitement, Aya bows serenely, clearly taking credit for Merutep's presence.
Marius dusts himself off before fishing a gold piece from his pouch "The way I see it we've got two options. The secret doors to the east or the secret doors to the west. Let's say we let Lady Luck decide. Heads we go east, tails west." With that he flips the coin in the air before deftly catching it and slapping it on his wrist
Removing his hand he reveals the tails side of the coin "West it is, then."
Walking over the set of double doors he attempts to push them open, only to find they are locked.
"Let me take a look" Rashim says, tossing a grin at Merutep as he goes past. Reaching into his vest, he'll pull out some tools, then drop to his knees in front of the door.
He takes a few minutes to examine the door, and if nothing seems unordinary, he'll go to work on the lock.
Rashim looks over the lock but is unable to find anything out of the ordinary. Kneeling down he begins to pick the lock, to no avail.
Marius taps Rashim on the shoulder "Mind if I try?" he asks quietly. Removing his own set of tools from his pouch he kneels down to go to work. Briefly closing his eyes, to call upon the luck of his ancestors, he begins to feel around for the mechanisms of the lock.
Caius sheathes his rapier and then moves to stand near Marius and Rashim as they open the western door.
"Hmmm...I wonder what's behind door number one. More bugs or treasure?" he says with a small laugh.
Marius and Rashim push open the doors to reveal a small 10'x10' room with a pair of double doors opposite the ones they just opened.
Marius checks the room for traps and other hidden surprises before stepping in and checking the second set of doors.
To Marius' relief nothing happens as he sets foot in the small room. The other doors are unlocked and open easily to reveal a 15' long hallway which ends with a set of stairs descending northward into the darkness.