Having no experience with human gods of this forgotten people, Drimm keeps his eyes equally on the stonework, as well as his comrades. He examines the builder's skill and also for anything that seems out of place.
Perception:
Finding no obvious traps on the stone door in front of you, you push on through it. The corridor opens into a roughly square 40' by 40' room that must be located directly beneath the middle of the pyramid. It is empty except for three identical, bronze tubes that run from the floor to ceiling 20' overhead. Each tube contains a single bronze door facing you.
The dust and sand on the floor in here have been disturbed by many feet, but it is currently empty.
Loges waves his hand, causing some sand to swirl about the chambers air.
He studies it for any affects...
Tollo makes a thorough search of the room, inspecting each door and the tubes.
"Hmph. Three tubes for three statues."
Zuberi continues to keep alert for traps as they move through new areas.
Horek lets the others investigate the details, the half-orc keeping a close eye on the rear of the formation, though he also glances toward the front on occasion as well.
Tollo is fairly sure that all three bronze doors once had traps, although the middle door's has recently been triggered, judging by the small spatter of dried blood he sees near it. The bronze doors on the left and the right are probably still working and are activated by opening the doors. He also notes that the walls are pockmarked with tiny holes, smaller than his pinky, probably also a trap; they point in no particular direction. He also sees larger holes, a little smaller than his wrist, that point towards the center door, and the door on the right.
"Start with the middle?", the halfling asks, indicating the dried blood. "Clearest signs of recent movement and all...."
Paranoid, he takes a final look at the middle door to be sure the trap hasn't re-set.
As Tollo attempts to open the middle bronze door, the entrance door to the chamber slams shut with the sound of two tombstones being dropped on one another. The noise reverberates for a few seconds in the high-ceiling room.
"... that's bad."
"Ya hear that...that hissing noise? Sounds like it is coming from those little holes there in the wall. That canna be good!"
Horek growls in response to Drimm's words. "Poison gas? Try to open that door, Tollo. Timbur, help him. Zuberi, help me with the one back here so we can escape back outside." The half-orc moves to the now-closed entrance door and digs a crowbar out of his backpack, then tries to pry open the heavy stone doors. He holds his breath as he does so, in case his fear of poison gas is true. If the stone entrance doors look impossible to open with the crowbar, he will work on the middle door that Tollo was investigating instead (unless someone stops him).
- includes crowbar bonus
Zuberi will try opening the door while Horek gets his crowbar out, when Horek has his crowbar out he'll combine efforts with him.
Tollo tries to yank the center door open, pulling out his picks and probes if it's locked.
Timbur lends his considerable muscles to the effort, in addition to his own crowbar.
Zuberi will try opening the door while Horek gets his crowbar out, when Horek has his crowbar out he'll combine efforts with him.
Timbur lends his considerable muscles to the effort, in addition to his own crowbar.
Loges begins trying to clog the holes with swirling sand...
I guess the outside door.
Working together, Timbur, Zuberi, and Horek pry the door leading out into the hallway back open. From the incredible amount of strength required, they can tell that they will have to use something to prop the door, or it will simply slam shut again.
The hissing in the room continues.
Should we ask Mr. Doorstop if he's available?
”We need a big rock,” Timbur says. ”Or maybe Tollo can figure out how to stop it from opening.”
Horek tries to use the crowbar itself to prop the door.
Owing to the magic of fulcrums, Horek's attempt with the crowbar is successful, and once everyone nervously takes their hand off the door, it seems to hold in place.
The hissing continues, and the room is starting to take on an almost almond flavor.
"WE OUT!", Tollo shouts, running to the barely open door and sliding/ducking under.
"LET'S GO!"
Zuberi heads out quickly not wanting to find out what more of that gas will do.
Loges exits the chamber for now.
The group heads outside of the pyramid just to be on the safe side, and is soon grouped around the held-open entrance once again.
The sun is beginning to set over the western mountains, and a cool breeze has picked up from the south, making the evening almost pleasant. Abdul and Zaiid both notice your reappearance from the campsite and throw concerned looks your way, making hand gestures indicating they want to know if you are okay.. The camel feels no such concern. Its long head is buried in the water barrel and it no longer strains against its lead.
The oasis looks particularly inviting, but then you know better.
Horek sits down for a bit, enjoying the sunset as the last rays illuminate the side of the pyramid with an almost golden glow. "If that invisible creature we encountered is right, sphinx or whatever it might have been, there is a great evil somewhere in this place. It might have meant the ooze, but I don't think so. There is also the matter of whoever or whatever attacked our caravan. They might be watching us right now. We should keep a double watch tonight, and leave this pyramid to explore tomorrow at first light." Having spoken his thoughts, the half-orc falls silent, to see what the others think.
"That is a sound plan Horek. I can still produce water and purify whatever we find to eat, so rushing is not necessary. Maybe that gas will have run out by tomorrow."
"How about in the morning we leave the camel in there with a barrel of water for a bit... one way to tell."
"I think the camel's a little too useful to just poison. He stops being emergency food at that point."
"I would say that we need to deal with the ooze sooner rather than later, try to ambush it when it's catching something else. You have any fire spells or something like that Loges or you just use magic to keep your clothes clean?"
Loges smiles at Tollo (as the mage waves a hand over his dusty robes; cleaning them).
I am not adept with Evocation magic.
If we could locate an accelerate, perhaps, we could use that.
Horek agrees with Tollo's assessment with regards to the camel. The creature is too valuable to lose.
That night, the half-orc takes a late shift at the watch, suggesting that those with darkvision like himself and Drimm split up to cover as much of the entire watch as possible during the hours around midnight and the very early morning before sunrise.
7:00pm-10:00pm: Zuberi/Abdul - 1st watch
10:00pm-1:00am: Zaiid/Drimm -2nd watch
1:00am-4:00am: Horek/Tollo - 3rd watch
4:00am-7:00am: Timbur/Loges - 4th watch (Loges could use the last part of his shift to study from his spellbook after getting 9 hours of rest)
The night passes without incident, although Drimm does see several hyenas or jackals (he couldn't say 100% for sure) scouting the edges of his vision in the moonlight. There are luckily no sounds that come from the pond in the oasis.
The morning comes bright and cold with a fresh new wind from the north bringing the scent of distant moisture.
Food supplies have reached their end now.
Horek takes note of Drimm's report when he takes the watch in the wee hours of the morning, long before the sun rises. The half-orc sees no sign of hyenas or jackals, and chats with Tollo a bit if the halfling is amenable, though if not he satisfies himself with listening to the peaceful night and considers the blood that flows through his body. Strange how combat can awaken such a vast and violent rage within him that reminds the half-orc all to well of his unwelcome heritage. He wonders what it must be like to live with those awful urges all the time, and decides that he really doesn't want to.
Eventually, he awakens Timbur and heads back to sleep. The morning is a bit chilly, and the barbarian deems that there might be a storm coming in from the north, judging by the wind and the scent of moisture it brings. He eats his share of the rations, noting that their food is now about entirely gone. They will have to begin hunting game that comes to the oasis starting today - either that or kill the remaining camel for its meat.
The half-orc shares this bit of grim news with the others as they all break their fast. "We can spend the day, or part of it at least, hunting the land around the oasis for food - since we have a good water supply." Horek nods at the dwarf. "This will delay exploring the pyramid, or we could take a short time to go in early and hunt later this evening. I think we should take the time to hunt first. If we had become trapped yesterday, we would have run out of food quickly. We run the same risks today if we explore, but if we have some extra food with us we can survive longer to figure a way out."
Both Abdul and Saiid nod at the half-orc's suggestion. Saiid in particular seems outspoken on the subject as he carefully eats the last of the caravan rations.
"I have no particular desire to go exploring into the cursed pyramid, but both Abdul and I are no strangers to hunting in the desert and would be happy to accompany you, Master Varshot. We want to eventually find our way out of this desert before we die, but in the meantime, focusing on our immediate survival seems quite prudent."
Loges keeps his watch faithfully. The young wizard then studies his spellbook the last hour during dawn.
Havung eaten his share of morning rations, Loges pulls out his trail rations.
I am not much of an outdoorsman. These should help a bit. There is two days worth, although its only meant for a person.
The youth waves a hand over his robes, coloring them to match their environment.
Horek smiles at the two. "Your help would be welcome. If you are both good hunters, maybe we stand a chance to survive after all." The half-orc pauses, then thinks for a bit longer before speaking again. "I am wondering if maybe we should hunt in pairs instead of singly. If there are threats out here, it might be safer that way."
Timbur helps, but he’s too worried about leaving Loges alone to do a good job.
While out hunting, Loges instructs Timbur in the finer points...
Then I guess he’s too distracted by Loges being out here instead of safely back at the ooze oasis and poison gas chamber.
Tollo hits the sand with Horek, grumpy as usual. He's hung up on the invisible sphinx and how unhelpful he felt it was.
"I mean, honestly! Make a sign if you don't want to answer questions! No wonder they don't have any friends, I bet they got stuck out here for being a jerk!"
After a successful hunt, the confident wizard examines the chamber for any poison sounds.
"Whatever you find, no matter what shape it may be in, I can call upon my god to make it editable for us. Even rotten meat or unripened fruit can be purified in this way...and of course, I will continue to make water for all of us!"
Drimm goes out hunting with Abdul
Survival: