As Surubi crosses the hallway 'he' doesn't notice anything dangerous, and nothing really unnerving beyond the way the eyes feel like they follow 'him' as he moves. Then again, maybe it's just due to 'his' own paranoia about being seen and recognized by the people from 'his' past.
"I know that gnomes are rather courageous beings, but I have to admit that I'm a little spooked right now. To be sure, let me see if there are any magicks .."
And the gnomes wiggles his fingers and ends the motion with a deep sigh. Apparently this lets him see active magics.
Morana just beams, her body rotating as they walk so that she can see as many of the creepy eyes as she can. "Fascinating!" she says.
Brennan mentally catalogs the murals and scenes of battle. you never knew when you might find a historian to sell such information to. He did not let himself get distracted though, and scanned both floors and walls as he walked, trying to spot any indications of a trap.
Brennan's well-trained eye easily spots a pressure plate at the end of the hall filling the space in front of the opposite doors. The feeling of the watching eyes comes from the fact that the eyes are actually small tubes loaded with darts, that would fill the chamber if anyone were to step on the plate.
"If only we had a bag of rocks and a gnomish push-o-pole .. !"
"Mister Gigglephizz, please go with Lady Morana back to the room behind us; maybe see if the dead person's sachel has anything that withstood the test of time inside. I will work with Mister Darkblade to remove the danger." Surubi opens the pouch at 'his' waist and removes a small leather roll. Unrolling it reveals a varied set of thin metal wires and tools. "This one is ready to proceed."
Knowing that there are times where you must listen, Gustar moves back into the other room and seeks shelter around the corner. He silently mouths a prayer to Brigh, hoping that science and skill will be on their side.
"Hanging out in this hall while we try and disable this trap would be a bad idea. If I screw this up, you might not want to find out the painful way." Brennan lay down on the floor before the pressure plate, and pulled out his tools.
Probably should have gotten a new set before we came down here. These have more than a little wear on them.
He set to work on the plate, but knew he was in trouble when one of his rakers snapped and his hand hit the plate a little too forcefully.
"I may be able to assist. I've worked with some traps." Surubi says lying down next to Brennan. 'He' lays out the leather roll of tools and begins to select a few of them to work with.
'He' is so startled when Brennan's arm slaps down hard on 'his' hand over the pressure plate that 'he' barely deflects the blow away from springing the trap. "Uh, Mr. Darkblade, this one understands words better than blows. Last time I was about to open the door without letting you look; but what was so wrong this time that you risked triggering the trap to stop me?"
Not getting much of a coherent reply, Surubi continues working on the trap.
Brennan sets about working on undoing the mechanisms that will trigger a hail of darts, with Suru nearby to assist. Lucky for him that the local was there, since he slipped up really badly, an amateur move. If it weren't for Suru's limb unintentionally intercepting his misplaced hand, he surely would have pushed down enough to trigger the whole thing. In the end, Suru had already applied appropriate pressure to lock the plate in place, and sufficiently turned it into nothing more than a large uneven tile.
Brennan grimaced at his slipup, but at least Surubi wasn't incompetent. "Thanks for that, shades. Blasted tools should have been replaced before we came. What a rookie move!"
Morana calls over to the pair of trapsmiths as they work and she hears a couple of soft clicks. "Everything alright over there? Are you done disarming the traps that defend this sacred burial site?"
"Tell ya what, sister. Why don't you and that fancy armor of your walk over here and test it out?"
Oh, Mr. Brennan, I don't think that would be a good idea at all. Ms. Morana might get hurt. I would definitely advise against anyone purposely triggering the trap, no matter what kind of armor they wear. There could be a pot of acid that drops from the ceiling. I don't think Ms. Morana's armor would protect her from that... do you? There's no telling what fiendish desserts were left by the craftsmen who built the these tombs.
Not having much to offer towards the current situation, Andrei leans against the doorway and watches the trapsmiths at work.
"Friendly banter aside, you should really check out the doors while you're at it! Diabolical minds designed this tomb so we best be prepared!"
"You are correct, Mister Gigglephizz, care is warranted; though protecting the peace of the dead from grave-robbers is hardly diabolical..." Surubi examines the door, taking care to avoid putting 'his' head in front of the eyes on the image of Akhentepi.
'He' looks over the door, rubbing 'his' still red and puffy eyes from time to time. "It appears safe, now that the pressure plate is fixed in place; still, Mister Darkblade, you are far better at noticing things than this one--perhaps you should take a look as well."
"Sure, throw me a sop after that debacle with the pressure plate. Shades, I'm gonna start thinking you're sweet on me."
Brennan looked the door over with a careful eye, taking his time about it.
A sharp intake of breath and a quick blush follows Brennan's comment, then a scowl and Surubi turns back to the door. 'He' waits for Brennan to finish looking it over, then opens it.
The door opens to a square room, twenty feet to a side. There are a set of stone double doors exiting the chamber to the north and south. A faded tapestry hangs on a wooden frame on the western wall of this chamber. Faded and delicate, the tapestry depicts a middle-aged man, accompanied by a woman and two children, with a small estate in the background. To either side of the tapestry are two small pedestals, upon which sit two dead and preserved animals.
"Spooky! These animals have been watching over the tomb of their master for Pharasma knows how long. Should we implement a security protocol? First, try to detect any magicks and poisons, then use more mundane means to detect traps and only then barge in?" Not one to waste time, the gnome then wiggles his fingers and tries to discern if there is any magick hanging or lingering in the room.
Gustar is not able to find any magic auras within the room itself, but with a brief focus on the animals, can fairly easily determine that they were likely once cats.
Walking into the new room, Morana just frowns. "Seems we've invaded the crypt of small-town-nice dad, who just wanted his cats to keep him company." She walks into the room, her magically booted feet clomping on the floor. "I wonder if they were alive when they were mummified..."
"Err... Lady Morana..." Surubi starts to say as Morana walks into the room, then stops and instead looks in earnest around the room for any traps.
After looking around a bit, Surubi joins Morana in the room to get a closer look at the tapestry, the doors, and especially the cats.
Knowing that tapestries are often used to conceal secret doors, Surubi looks behind this one.
"Of a very well-to-do small-town-nice dad who was once a mighty warrior and commander..." muses Surubi. At Morana's last words, 'he' shoots her a horrified glance and stammers, "No, no, it is not possible to mummify living beings!"
The gnome adds his perceptive gaze to Surubi's effort, helping the man with his search for any and all traps.
> +2 for Suribi = 26 perception.
And as they do so, he can't help but notice the darned mummified cats. Who would do such a thing? Creepy! Spooky! Silly! Get an artist to make a painting, a statue or anything that does not involve the preservation of a dead body!
Brennan glances at Morana as the woman bustled into the room, but didn't say anything. If she was out to get herself killed, that was her problem. Still...
Most of the fears and concern can be allayed once everyone that examines the mummified pets realizes that there is no threat there.
The tapestry itself is a portrait of Akhentepi, his wife, and two children, depicted standing before their family home. Those who have paid particular attention to the tapestry can discern several symbols
and hieroglyphs.
Much to the dismay of those looking for something out of the excursion beyond a history lesson about one of the city's former generals, this room has nothing more to offer. There are no signs of traps, treasure, or threats needing to be vanquished, nor can anything of the sort be heard through the doors to whatever lies beyond.
Not even having enough learning to garner the history lesson that this room offers, Morana frowns. "How much of this place do you think is left? Surely there's...something."
Frustration reigns in her head. She had been told that adventuring was the height of adventuring. Is this all that was supposed to happen? Was this...normal? This experience was so...hollow.
Brennan ignored the tapestry, after a certain cynical appraisal, and moved to the northern door. He inspected it carefully, then moved to the southern door to do the same.
"Mummified pet guardians are normal for tombs like this. This one has seen such things before."
"Take a look at these hieroglyphs in the tapestry, Mister Gigglephizz and Mister Breccia - do you recognize them at all?" Surubi points out the symbols 'he' noticed.
Having gleaned nothing from the tapestry, Surubi asks "Which door should be opened first?" 'He' walks over to the northern door.
"Ah, yes. Yes yes yes. I see.." the gnome mutters as he talks to no one in particular. Perhaps it is a voice in his head he's talking with. "Apparently Akhentepi's family were the victims of murder or sickness. Perhaps both. We have been told that a great plague ravaged this part of Osirion. Many theories I have, few things I can prove. What I am sure of, however, is that his family is buried here, but most likely only after Akhentepi had a succesful career. It seems common enough, to have your bones lifted out of your grave and put in a nicer one. Not that you'd care by then, but still, a nice enough gesture."
Even with Brennan's examination of both doors, nothing much can be discerned. In fact he gets the feeling that the northern is false for how little sound can be heard beyond. The southern one at least offers that slightest of hollowness beyond.
Andrei notices Morana's frustration and smiles gently. "I council patience, good woman. I trust that all will be revealed in time."
To Gustar's soliloquy, Andrei opines "There is a finality in death for the body, but the spirit moves onward. Those who have unfinished business upon this world at times rest not easy and become tainted. While such gestures may seem odd to the living, a such a nod to the departed may be repaid tenfold in peace."
"Lady Morana, there could easily be more something than we can handle behind any of these doors! The fewer traps and monsters spoil our enjoyment of art and history here, the better!" Visibly less frazzled now (by Morana's walking into an unchecked room, and by the idea of live mummification), Surubi realizes 'he' needs to stop preaching and diffuse Morana's frustration somehow. As Brennan, done looking over the northern door, walks over to look at the southern one, Surubi puts her hand on the handle of the northern door, glances over at Morana to get her attention, sings out "Ta-da!" as operatically as 'he' can, which is not very, and opens the door.
Andrei considers the implications of cats in a tomb, but it's not related to any of the common deities he is familiar with. It could be an Osirian thing, they had a whole cabal of different deities they followed.
As Suru opens the door, with much less of a positive response than 'he' had hoped, he looks in to see why. The only thing there is a ten foot square hallway, dominated by a set of stairs leading down to another pair of stone double doors.
With a sigh, Surubi shrugs off the off-key anticlimactic incident, and looks into the hallway and down the stairs, as far as Gustar's magical light allows.
"Mister Darkblade, could you look into this hallway, before Lady Morana goes searching for traps with her boots?"
"If it helps, I can cast a blessing of light on one of your items, Surubi. Hand it to me and I'll see to it!" If (s)he prefers the light stays centralized on the gnome instead, he'll refresh the duration of the blessing and follow her.
"No signs of traps on the south door either." He looked with interest into the northern corridor, noting the stairs. "Do we really want to head down before fully scouting this level?"
"Seeing as that we entered this room of divergence in a straight line from the entrance - or exit, depending on how you look at it - it is safe to assume that the other side will also see us down. Still, to make this theory a fact, we should check the door for traps and open it. In short, I concur, Brennan."
Surubi nods to Brennan and Gustar, closes the north door, and walks over to the south door.
"Thank you for keeping up that light, Mister Gigglephizz. This one can carry its source, if you prefer."
Morana crosses her armored and gauntleted arms at the slight and huffs a little bit before she resolves to simply stand in the center of the room with the dead cats while her "so much more skilled" compatriots do all of the required work.
After the trap-finding contingent declares the area free from immediate danger, Andrei walks to each door and spends a moment contemplating the two paths.
Lady of Prophecy, Lady of Destiny, guide your faithful blade to its mark. Set your hound on the trail of corruption!
Closing his eyes and withdrawing from the world around him, Andrei reaches his senses out and searches for any taint of evil down each corridor.
Brennan opens the southern door.
Andrei tries to look past each door to see if evil lies beyond, but he sees no sign of it. Finally, Brennan decides to go ahead and open the door to the south. What he finds is not really a surprise, especially to Gustar, who had guessed correctly. It is another set of stairs leading down to an identical set of double-doors as the ones at the bottom of the steps to the north.
"Fair enough. North it is, then." Brennan moved to the stairwell leading down to the doors in the north. Checking his footing as he went, he moved down to the double doors and inspected them as well.