Surubi follows Brennan through the north door and down the stairs, and examines the double-doors.
Finding nothing suspicious, Surubi opens the double-doors cautiously.
After an examination by Suru and Brennan, wherein neither of them found any risk, Suru eases the doors open carefully. A brightly painted chariot sits in the center of this chamber. Beyond the chariot, a large canvas stretches between two stone columns. The skins of several animals—antelopes, great cats, and crocodiles—now faded and deteriorated with age, are tacked to this canvas. A wooden chest, lacquered white and trimmed with gold inlay, sits in the southeast corner. In each corner of the room a small stone shield is molded into the masonry at shoulder height. An open hallway leads to the east.
Surubi pauses to study the room, and to give Brennan a chance to do the same, before stepping in. "So, he was a hunter, too," 'he' muses softly.
Once in the room, Surubi carefully studies at the chariot, the chest, and the shields in the corners; looks behind the canvas; and finally glances down the dimly lit open hallway. "Mister Gigglephizz, Mister Breccia!" 'he' calls back over 'his' shoulder, "Look how unfaded the paints on this chariot are!"
Carefully following in the trail of Surubi the gnome takes a look at the chariot. He put his crossbow away, leather cord slung over his shoulder, and raised his symbol high above him - roughly at chest height for a normal human. "Exquisite!" But professionalism had to come first. He invoked the inquisitive nature of Brigh and gazed at it with arcane sight. First the chariot, then the chest and then the rest of the room. Best to be thorough!
"I wonder what this room symbolizes .. let us discuss this and see if we can come to a mutual conclusion. The chariot is an instrument of war and a symbol of power. The skins of animals indicates martial prowess, as a hunter and or a warrior. The shields indicate warfare. Now, the chest might give us some answers if opened, but if I had to guess - and I'm not a gambler! - I think we will find part of his combat attire in it. A small weapon like a short bow or a set of armor."
Prattling on incessantly for the last hour, the sound of his family's name draws him back to the moment.
...and that was the last time I let the little hussy take me for a rube. I marched straight to her father and... Oh, the chariot? I should expect it to be well preserved Miss This One. The airtight construction of these tombs and the lack of sunlight would naturally have preserved the paint, don't you think? That's a rather nice piece. I wonder what's inside? Z'ael moves to open the chest.
Suru goes around the room having a look over each of the contents with a scrutinizing eye. Despite the color having faded little, time has still taken a toll on the chariot, such that using it as a vehicle would be dubious at best. The chest looks like a beautiful piece, and clearly a lot of hard work went into it's crafting. The shields in the corners turn out to be nothing more than decorative torch holders carved from the stone. As for the space behind the aged skins on the canvas, there is nothing noteworthy back there, slightly more unremarkable than the poor condition of the skins upon the canvas itself.
The hallway is short, and only goes ten feet before opening again onto a room beyond. Four gold-plated funerary masks hang on one wall of this short hallway, staring down as if in judgment at anyone standing in the corridor. Everyone recognizes the nearest mask as one of those faces from above in the first chamber, which Andrei and Gustar recognized as Pharasma.
Scanning the room with his spell, Gustar notices the presence of magic auras in the southeast corner, and with a little more time is able to determine there are three faint auras coming from within the chest.
"Pharasma, Abadar, Osiris, and one with which I am not familiar," says Andrei, quietly. "Quite a jury to be tried before."
"Sekhmet, the Osirian goddess of war, is the third god represented here, sir Andrei. Also, the contents of the chest are magical. I detect three faint aura's, but with the lid being closed, that might be the reason for that. Alternatively, the items could be minor - such as a simple potion. Let us secure the room first before we make any attempts at opening said chest?"
Brennan took a quick look around the room, trying to spot anything of interest. He saw the chariot, the masks, and the chest. Brennan let the others focus on the chariot and holy symbols. What he most interested in was the chest. Or, to be more accurate, what was in the chest.
Surubi sees Brennan futzing with the chest and pulls out 'his' tools to assist, if indeed there is anything to assist with.
Morana's heavy boots tromp into the room as she scans it for magical auras. "If you want, I can help you identify any magical items you find.", she says, trying to be helpful instead of standoffish and sarcastic for once.
She looks around the room, pivoting on one overlarge foot as she does so. "Wow." she says. "Masks."
With a closer inspection of the chest, Brennan notices that there is a razor-sharp, envenomed blade triggered to slice into the hand of any would-be thief who attempts to pick the lock. He is able to release it without injury, just before Suru is able to lean in and lend a hand, most of her attentions having been spread about the room. It does not open, though, since it is locked along with having been trapped.
Those on the eastern side of the room, and interested in the hallway or its contents, are able to make out the room beyond. A table displaying a three-dimensional diorama occupies much of the north side of this room. Three shields with different designs are displayed upon a rack against the east wall, while various weapons hang from another rack along the south wall. Arrayed around the room are five small chests and a clay urn.
"Woohoo! Archaeological findings!" the gnome cheers as he pumps a fist up in the air. He immediately whispers a prayer and stares over the hallway, then the other room and then its contents - the chests, urn, display, shields and weapons.
After that, he'll shadow Surubi and lend her his inquisitive gaze.
Brennan flashes a grin Suri as the poisoned blade flashes out. "That could have been bad." He worked again in the chest, this time trying to open the lock.
Surubi's eyes widen and 'he' pulls 'his' hand out of the way of the poisoned blade just in time. 'He' looks up at Brennan and nods gratefully, then goes to help Brennan with the lock as surrepticiously as possible.
"Just a tiny bit more pressure there - there, you did it again!"
"It is fortunate that we have those of such skills among us," muses Andrei as he watches the trap-breakers work. "Perhaps my talents shan't be needed here after all!"
Andrei chuckles, but inwardly ponders the lack of active defenses. To pass the time, he investigates the weapons and shields on the wall. Solid? Or just for display? Afterwards, he focuses his senses again to feel out any auras of corruption.
The two fiddling with the lock quite easily pop it open, and are able to get a look at the contents within. The chest contains three vials, each one containing an indeterminate liquid. Also inside the chest are two books with thin, gold-plated metal sheets for pages. The first is a brief biography of Akhentepi, and the second is a list and description of the various military campaigns conducted by the nation of Osirion between 2350 and 2450 A.R.
As Gustar scans the next room with his magic, he notices the presence of auras. Which turns out to be a single faint aura, of the conjuration school. It is emanating the middle shield of the three on the east wall.
As the two that are normally on point pop the chest open, Andrei decides to have a closer look at the weapon and shield racks. Moving into the room, there is a light clattering, like wooden wind chimes as three of the figures in the diorama begin moving and coming to life.
Surubi hears come commotion from behind and turns 'his' head to look. 'His' leather roll of tools clatters to the floor when he sees the moving figures. "What are those..." is all 'he' is able to mutter before 'he' is shocked into action by Brennan moving next to 'him.'
Brennan's quick reaction has him drawing a blade and dashing into the room, taking up a defensible position in the corner. Just as he does so, one of the little figurines moves over to the edge of the table, and lunges at him. To do so, however, it has to get past Brennan's natural reach.
In a surprising display, the little thing dodges the strike, and delivers a solid one of its own. The little weapon, carved as a part of the miniature itself, slams Brennan hard on the wrist.
The gnome's eyes manage to grow even bigger as the three figurines come to life. By Brigh!
Knowing he can't just stand there while his companion is being attacked, Gustar moves up and tries to touch one of the creatures
damage, 5 charges remaining.
Surubi grabs the bow slung across 'his' back as 'he' moves to protect the paladin Gus left in his charge. 'He' dashes to step between the dolls and Andrei, then nocks an arrow, drawing the bow as far as 'he' is capable and lets it fly wildly at the nearest small creature. 'He' gasps as the arrow narrowly misses Gustar's hand.
;
Gustar easily recognizes the little constructs as animated objects, often they are nothing much more than things brought to life by a powerful spell of the same name. Beyond that he has little idea other than what they share with all constructs.
He moves up to the table and uses his connection to his goddess to try and disrupt the crafted nature of the little dolls, sorry action figures, with a mere touch. He easily connects with one of them, but it only shudders briefly before resuming its attacks, showing no signs of disruption.
Suru joins in the excitement, drawing 'his' bow and rushing up to help, only to almost put a shot into the elder gnome as he reached for the figureine. Suru's arrow skips off the table's surface to rattle into some other pieces of the diorama.
The unengaged figurine nearest Gustar reacts to his presence and touch with an act of violence itself. It strikes out at the gnome with its two limbs, not actually using the weapons carved into its permanent grip as intended.
"Fool gnome! What are you doing?" cries Morana as Gustar shuffles forward into melee combat. She brings her longspear to bear and steps forward in order to get within range of the strange construct creatures. "Get behind me, little man!"
She stabs out with her spear at one of the creatures, hoping to stop it dead in its tracks.
You know, despite how dangerous this all was...it's pretty much precisely what Morana had wanted, huh! And it was exhilarating.
"Out of my way, boy!" snarls Andrei as he shoulders Surubi aside to get at one of those... Whatever they are.
No matter, I'm sure a sword will work against these!
Andrei fluidly draws his sword as he engages the closest foe, bringing it crashing down with great force and a battle cry.
Z'ael's heart rate kicks in to overdrive at the start of the attack. Moving on instinct, he positions himself for better vantage, and vomits forth a stream of bile at AO2.
Aaahyaaa!
Z'ael moves up with excitement, and spits the most caustic phlegm wad anyone has seen before. He has to try and lob it over everyone's head and in the end it splashes uselessly off the wall behind the diorama.
Morana moves up with her longspear, but sadly with everyone in the way and crowded around the table, she is only able to glance off the hard lacquered exterior of the figurine.
Andrei tries to get past the others to move in to the fight, and finds he is forced around to the other side of Gustar for the lack of room at the corner where the fight seems to be taking place. To him they don't look to be anything more than tiny stringless marionettes, moving on their own. Certainly some magic is at play. With his large sword out, he slams it into the rear doll, rattling the whole table and snapping the toy in two in the process.
The rogue cursed as the little doll slashed his leg. Brennan moved to avoid another strike and lashed out at the construct before him with is knife.
Brennan strikes out at the thing, but much like Morana's spear, his blade just glanced off the exterior. Despite looking like tiny little toys, these warrior dolls are pretty resilient.
In return for his attention, the thing strikes out at Brennan again, but this time with both hands. At least allowing Brennan to try to fend it off again, to no avail. The thing glances off of one of Brennan's bracers, but it quickly turns and attacks the other arm, but it's reach wasn't enough to allow it to fully crack any bones, though the hit was numbingly hard.
Gustar adopts a defensive posture, hoping that he can dodge the construct's attacks. "Its attention is on me, hit it while it's distracted! Hit it!"
Ah! These tiny things are really hard to hit. Surubi puts the bow away and reaches for the doll.
"Destroy this doll while it's held!" Surubi calls out.
As Gustar goes intoa protective posture, Suru grabs for the one attacking the gnome. The little warrior doll swings out as the hands come for him, but the tactic of not being an attack is not well understood by the mindless creature. Once in Suru's grasp, it doesn't even bother trying to get away, instead just swing at the one holding it with it's free arm. Lucky for Suru, it mechanical movements make it hard to swing effectively.
I'm coming This One!
Z'ael reaches deep into the pit of his stomach and vomits once more on the mechanical toy.
Morana purses her lips and tries to stab at the thing held by Surubi, counting on her arcane-enhanced strength to see her through. "Battle is a lot less exciting and grand than I thought, ya know?" he says, her voice still muffled by the armor but annoyance shining clearly through.
Andrei looks on in satisfaction as the first of the guardians falls shattered from his mighty blow. He recovers from his swing and attempts a repeat performance on another of the strange objects, but bumps into the room's furnishings in his haste and misses with an off-balance slash.
Z'ael spits his foul bile once again, as it lands squarely on top of the little doll. The liquid merely rolls off the object like water off a sealed deck. Whatever sealant was used to preserve the dolls has proven to be very effective.
Meanwhile, both Morana and Andrei find that their overlarge weapons in such a small battlefield become a hindrenace as they get in each others' way.
Dripping blood from a pair of wounds, Brennan snarled and threw himself into combat with abandon. His blow misses the tiny body, and the rogue grimaces at his aim.
Surubi, not sure what else to do, tries to pin the doll down onto the table and hold it still there so the others can hit it more easily.
The little toy facing Brennan is persistent, and agile. Brennan misses again, and once again the little thing comes at him. He is better prepared though, and is able to not only hit it, but actually chip a nice little wedge out of it. Sadly, that doesn't stop it from hitting Brennan back. It's not as hard as they have been, but the hits really seem to be wearing on the man.
Gustar grabs his mighty light hammer and attempts to assist Andrei in his efforts to obliterate the tiny menaces. He attempts.
..
Gustar decides to swing at the one Suru has in 'his' grasp, but the gnome is more qualified for working on projects with hammers than he is to combat with them.
Suru manages to lockdown the other limbs of the thing, binding it up tight and preventing it from moving too much. It wriggles in 'his' grasp, trying to break free, but there is no release.
Even with Suru taking up most of the space where the thing is, Z'ael manages to toss his spear into the mix and hit the thing, but he doesn't hit it hard enough to break a piece off of it.
"Well, this isn't what I was expecting." huffs Morana as she drops her spear and begins to work around the field of battle, moving around all of her compatriots and just past Z'ael to get to the other side of the tiny construct-creatures. "Not enough blood, and way too much frustration."
Once she gets to the other side of the creatures, opposite Brennan, she lashes out at one with one of her armor's claws.
Seeing Surubi pin one of the thrashing constructs to the table, Andrei takes a moment to carefully aim an attack. As he draws back his blade for an overhand chop, he thinks a prayer and shouts a battle cry.
Lady of Graves, let my aim be true!
"Dust to dust!"