"It is just standing there, is it not?" - Garrosh shrugs - "Why don't we check this passage to the north then?"
Fair enough. Tony?
Belle pouts.
Don't these guys ever want to take a bath?!? I mean did we NOT just fight an offal monster and get smatterings all over us? MEN!
Toony advances up the rough hewn corridor. The fork to the right proves to be a dead end other than some rat holes. Continuing on, there are more rat holes to the left, and then the passage turns and opens into a rectangular room of obvious worked stone. A wooden coffin sits on the floor at the far end, and a passage filled with stone rubble continues on.
Belle and Agyen take a look at the coffin, determining there is nothing magical about it, so Tony takes a look. Detecting no traps, he opens it, revealing nothing but dust and some bone fragments.
"Let's try this tunnel" - Garrosh points to the rubble filled one - "I think we can still navigate it"
Belle realized that they are all ignoring her pout and considers something more dramatic. Then she remembers home, and how immune she was to drama, recognizes the irony, and chuckles.
*sigh*
Well, this whole dungeon cleaning thing is obviously pretty important to my new friends. I guess I'll have to be the patient one for once!
"I'm afraid I won't be all that much help clearing rubble, but I'll do my best."
With that Belle starts moving some of the smaller chunks. With an artistic bent she tries to build a mosaic in her own corner of the room with the pieces she removes, probably taking as much time on her personal project as moving the rubble.
Reynaud, back to his former quiet self, starts moving rocks once Tony gives the all-clear.
Agyen assists by moving small rocks with his mind.
Brodin takes a look at the stonework, and he is pretty sure that it will hold. After about a half hour, some of the rubble has been removed. The hard work has dome Agyen, Belle and Tony good, as they are feeling better, but Reynaud is feeling the effects of the stench.
Brodin sits down on a big chunk of rock and wipes his brow. "I'm not sure how much farther this goes, but, at this rate, it will probably take a day to safely clear a three foot deep area wide enough to pass single file."
Belle looks at Agyen, "Agyen does green slime eat through everything it touches?"
Ageyn looks back at Belle, "No, of course not. It doesn't eat through stone, otherwise it would eat through the floor."
"Well..it's going to be a project however we do it. But if lugging these rocks are going to take a day. I say we rest up outside, or see if we can use these rocks to step over the slime."
You know what? You're absolutely right.
'Alright'
Tony begins hauling flat-ish rocks over to the slime area.
You manage to build a 'bridge' across the slime without splattering the stuff on you. You move to the latrine area, and after double checking to make sure there are no hostiles, Belle's unseen servant dives in and retrieves two items.
a leather sack bearing a moderate conjuration aura
an ornate brass bottle with a stopper sealed with lead, engraved with runes of containment bearing a strong conjuration aura.
Both Belle and Agyen determine the sack to be a bag of holding , and it contains 417gp.
Neither Belle nor Agyen is able to identify the bottle at this time.
Well, shall we go through that area over there? Seems as good a place to start as any."
She points at the rough passage to the northeast right after the slime.
"Looks as fine to me as can be" - Garrosh nods - "Let's go"
"I don't know how far the tunnel goes, but I could cast a grease spell on you, Brodin, if it will help. Though I'm betting you don't like it when your bow can't be used."
"Well I'll go first at least. I bet I'll have an easier time maneuvering through than you guys. I'll take a greasing though for good luck."
Tony heads over to the room where the desk was formerly.
"Do you need it? I figured it might allow someone with armor to traverse the tunnel without leaving it behind. Though it would have to be a short tunnel as it will only last 5 minutes."
Tony squeezes into the tunnel, happy that he isn't claustrophobic. Although the stench of dung is slightly less in the confined spaces, the stench of rat is strong in his nostrils.
He has no idea how long he is n the tunnel. A minute? An hour? It felt line an eternity. He could feel the weight of the ground above him. The tunnel wound around , splitting off often. "Lucky Left!" He kept telling himself whenever he got to an intersection, so as to easily retrace his route.
With all sense of tiem and direction gone, Tony begins to hear something other than his armor scraping against the stone and dirt in the confined space. The sound of squeaking. Slowing, be becomes conscious of the sounds and positioning of his body, attelting to remain undetected as he slowly inches forward.
Around a bend and the narrow tunnel opens up into a cavern. Tony can only see a small slice of it, but it widens out the farther it goes. Te far wall is lost in darkness, and the floor is covered with a writing mass of rats; both normal size and dire rat size. For all appearances, Tony has found the rat nest.
"Oh, Joy", Tony thinks as he slowly goes back the other way.
"Righty, lightly"
"He's been gone too long" - Garrosh paces the room.
We should go after him! Belle starts moving into the hole.
Belle dives in after Tony while the rest of you look on aghast. Brodin is the only other one who would be able to navigate the tunnel without removing armor. And the minutes tick on. After a count of 500 neither Tony nor Belle have returned.
Is the way open to the mausoleum and original entrance?
Tony carefully ascends the stairs careful to not let Belle get caught unaware by an ambush.
Belle hurries over to the entrance so she can shout to the others that all is OK. Before having her shout let me know what she sees. I think she would hesitate since a shout may cause more problems than it solves.
The minutes tick on and neither Belle nor Tony appear.
Reynaud punches the desk hard, then curses since he forgot he wasn't wearing gauntlets anymore.
I should have said so earlier, but this was a terrible idea. We now have no idea where to find them in there, and we can't help.
"Belle, we need to hurry. In those tunnels is a swarm of rats from typical to unusual size. We need to get back to them before they try to follow", Tony says has they finish retrieve the key and head back to the main mausoleum.
"Ok, that's it - I'm going after them" - Garrosh informs the others, then proceeds to take off his armor, and storing it in a bundle to take with him - "Definitely a bad idea Reynaud" - he agress with his companion.