Terquem |
Day 2, Tuesday, turn 92
Slowly, carefully, wary of any more unusual surprises, the group makes its way back down the slope to the statue in the chamber.
With the Black Pudding dispatched, now it can be seen that the statue of Gloomshparh the Contemplative is actually quite well executed, in green marble. It shows the great sage of the past, resting on a rock, holding his chin with one hand, while the other lies across his feet, and seems to hold a twig between two fingers. His face is serene, his gaze far away, and his appearance taken altogether is one of a relaxed, resolved detachment.
There is nothing else of interest, nothing peculiar, about the chamber, but now that you can enter it safely you easily find that there are two arched tunnels leaving the chamber, each is about nine feet high at the peak. The tunnels are carved out of the bedrock of the mounting and lined with fitted stones, reinforced with columns placed every five feet along the walls. These two tunnels leave the chamber going east and west.
To the right, going east, the tunnel goes a short distance, perhaps thirty feet, and continues past an intersection where another tunnel appears to branch off to the south, and then just twenty feet beyond that it ends in a stone slab with something carved in relief upon it, but it is too far away to make out the details.
To the left, to the west, the other tunnel extends to at least sixty feet and there, there is another side passageway, going to the north, and after that the tunnel continues into darkness.
The Mighty Wup |
"East is good for Wuppy too," Wup assents. After a glance to make sure everyone is ready and following, Wuppy strides forward bravely, into the east, heading to the intersection, at least.
Perception for any dangers!: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
Fluuk |
Smearing pudding off his face with his sleeve, Fluuk wasn't able to talk much, so he just nodded eagerly and follows the group. He grabs a hold of Klobber his ape companion and tugs him along.
Terquem |
Day 2, Tuesday, turn 93
Approaching the intersection, Wup and Tabaac signal the others to be quiet, and pause for a moment, then the two peek around the corner and see that this side passageway goes south for a short distance, is narrower than the main passageway, and ends in a common wooden door with a large metal ring for a handle.
Pressing further to the east, the group approaches the large stone door
It is carved with a peculiar pair of images
Man, at times like this I wish I could draw, even a little bit
The door is carved with a diagonal line running from the upper right hand corner of the door to the lower left hand corner.
On the left, and above the diagonal line is a relief image of a startlingly beautiful goblin queen, wearing a dress with a long train, and she is bent at the waist, holding what appears to be a scepter in her left hand, and her right hand is held high above her head. She is touching the end of the scepter to a stylized relief carving of a pool of water (with over exaggerated ripples that in a few places look more like tentacles).
On the right and below the diagonal line is the same image, almost, except here the pool is shown empty, and rendered as an upturned half circle flattened on the bottom. A key is carved above the flat portion of the bottom of the pool and now the queen is shown lying, in repose, hands folded on her bosom on a litter being carried by goblins that appear to be in morning, and this image is carved as if the procession is headed into the empty pool.
Tabaaac |
Tabaaac takes 20 for his one daily use of that ability because LORE MASTER
I know what this is, I know what this is! The Great Axellexa opened this place with a scepter that controls elementals to make her own tomb. Some say that scepter is still here! Protected by a powerful guardian.
Fluuk |
"OOOOH...." Fluuk seems enamored by the door and by Tabaaac's pontification about the history. He crowds closer "Tell me more.. This place is amazing.."
Tabaaac |
Her Excellency the most excellent of all the queens is right here. Did I get the story right O great Axellexa? Tabaaac asks the ghost of their great leader whose tomb this is.
Also what's behind the door and will it try to eat us? he adds really quickly.
Axellexa the Excellent |
That is such an awful rendering of me, but yes you are mostly correct. Beyond this door lies the guarded treasure. The guardians will not try to eat you, I think, well, I'm pretty sure, yes, pretty sure they will not try to eat you. More than this I cannot say
Gemdar |
"While they may not eat us, will they attack us, I think is a more important question.", Gemdar says looking at Tabaaac with a disappointed look. So much for my trap finding skills. Need to work on that.
Kn: History: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
Tabaaac |
Treasure the rod of elementals?[//b] Tabaaac wonders [b]Queen's already said she won't answer any more questions Gemdar... I think we have to go in
Tabaaac squares his tiny hat and readies his musket. Uh, who's going to open the door?
Tabaaac |
No, I'm here to read all the words! Maybe you can go in and search for something for us to eat! Tabaaac tries to jerk clumsily away from Gemdar and ends up tangled with him. The two entwined goblins with muffled squeaks, protests, and the sound of books and pots banging against each other, fall over each other right onto the door with a loud thud.
Terquem |
Day 2, Tuesday (turn 93)
It only requires the slightest touch.
These stone doors must be balanced in ways only the master builders truly understand. Along the diagonal line that splits the door into two scenes, the door silently swings inward as soon as Gemdar and Tabaaac bump up against it.
Beyond the door lies what looks to be an ornate chamber, probably modeled on a throne room, or a posh tomb.
The chamber has a high ceiling that is peaked, coming to a point nearly twenty feet above. The shape of the chamber is somewhat like a cross. There are alcoves, quite large actually, on either side of the room thirty feet to the east, on the north and south sides of the chamber, and then the chamber continues past these side alcoves another twenty feet. The chamber itself is wide, almost thirty feet wide, and there is a shallow ornamental pool, five feet wide, that runs down the center of the chamber to almost the very end. At the very end is an alter, a flat stone table on which lies a wooden case, tilted back at a slight angle. A silver chain across the wooden case seems to restrain, and keep in place, a dark scepter, made from carved black oak, and fitted with a fluted, golden ball on the top.
Gemdar |
"You got me dirty! Bread and water for you tonight! And another thing..... Ooooooh look what I found! The scepter!"
Gemdar scrambles to his feet. He runs up to the altar and admires the scepter. "What a good meat tenderizer that would make."
Terquem |
When Tabaaac reaches the alcoves, he pauses, and sort of wishes that Gemdar had paused as well.
In Each alcove, standing against the wall, upright, is an open sarcophagus, and in each is a goblin mummy.
Each mummy is large, for a goblin, arms folded across their chests, and wearing huge cylindrical hats made of silver and copper.
The Mighty Wup |
Sorry for my slowness. Was traveling a bit.
Wuppy makes a bemused face at Tabaaac's hilarious warning, and pads into the room after him. "...ooh. Pretty pool."
The Mighty Wup crouches by the long pool and dips his fingers into it.
Fluuk |
Fluuk steps into the room with Klobber in tow. "What is all the commotion. OH MY GOODNESS...these guys have the BEST hats!!" Fluuk approaches the mummies ogling their amazing headwear.
Fluuk |
Fluuk moves close to the mummified corpses, reaching for the ornate headdress of the closest one. He climbs up on Klobber if he needs extra height and tries to wrest one off of its head.
Terquem |
Day 2, Tuesday (turn 93)
The “Mummified” goblins do not seem to be animated, or anything like that, for the moment, and when Fluuk tries to remove a hat from one of them he finds it more difficult than he first imagined, as it appears that these goblins had either very large heads, or huge amounts of hair that was piled on top of their heads and wrapped along with the rest of them.
It takes all of Fluuks efforts, even standing on Clobber’s shoulders, to lift the hat off of the head and the post that is part of the mummy’s head.
The hat, once it is in Fluuk’s hands, is actually quite lovely, made from thin wood slats, bonded together with silver wire, and embossed with gold and silver leaf. The hat is not heavy, and wears comfortably.
Ehsmaralduh |
I once heard an old gnome say that any plan in which you lose your hat, is a bad plan. I don't think you should take their hats, but then again, it's not like they need them for anything, right?
Gobzilla |
So Gobzilla doesn't hear anything worrying?
With the subject of hats of his mind, Gobzilla absentmindedly pats the leather dragon head hood he wears and shrugs.
"Rawr! Gobzilla already has nice hat. He thinks Fluuk would look good with that one, though."
Fluuk |
"So beautiful....." Fluuk places the glorious hat upon his head, the incomprehensible mutterings of his companions a distant murmur....
Beaming with pride Fluuk smiles at the others with his magnificent headpiece.
Terquem |
Day 2, Tuesday (turn 93)
The still flat water, the quiet regal appointments, the unmoving mummified remains, all seem to fade away as Fluuk turns his head this way and that, to get a good feel for the weight of his new hat.
Nothing else seems to happen, as moments stretch on and on. The scepter remains, strapped in place on the board above the alter, the cool air of the chamber is quiet and devoid of any unusual odors.
Time to decide what you will do next!
Penny the Wise |
Well, Penny says at last, I think we could explore this chamber more thoroughly, but I don’t think the next door is here. This pool seems too shallow to conceal any doors at its bottom, unless I am wrong, we should probably press on deeper into the dungeon and keep looking for that door, and if we need to get that scepter we can come back here and figure out how dangerous that might be.