With the close confines of the fight, and not having much opportunity to step into a place to fight, Holbrecht instead moves back away. He sets himself up to offer channeled healing without it affecting the bugs if needed.
"Hm," Alexander muses as he draws his rapier. "While the opportunity to chastise these destroyers of monuments is appreciated, I feel a little silly fighting insects. Ah, well. Manus arcanorum."
Alexander's rapier-like blade flashes from his hand, zips past the others and stabs at the beetle before returning to his hand.
Nulyth easily bats away the shrieking beetle with his shield and follows up with a powerful counter-attack with his scimitar! He shouts over his shoulder to Alexander. "Tell that to the giant beetle trying to bite my leg off!"
Lin turns her gaze to Kachu and dismisses him with a harsh gesture. Shuddering a little, she readies to call on her spirits.
Lin turns her gaze to Kachu and dismisses him with a harsh gesture. Shuddering a little, she readies to call on her spirits.
With the close confines of the fight, and not having much opportunity to step into a place to fight, Holbrecht instead moves back away. He sets himself up to offer channeled healing without it affecting the bugs if needed.
Nulyth easily bats away the shrieking beetle with his shield and follows up with a powerful counter-attack with his scimitar! The Scimitar cutting through the creatures hard carapace and splits it asunder into a gooey mess. However it's light glands still remain lit.
Letting his luck linger Neferteri tries another shot, but this time at the beetle still alive and kicking. But trying to get the shot past Nulyth without hitting him throws his aim off just a little as the arrow breaks as it hits the wall beside the beetle.
The remaining beetle scurries forth to use its mandibles against the paladin. The beetle crawling over and through his fallen companion. The clicks and clacks of its jaws taking a darker tone. Obviously the other was it's mate.
The beetle's mandibles making contact with Nulyth's leg but its jaws not being able to penetrate the heavy armor that protects it. The beetle lets loose and looks for a better place to bite into.
Alexander's rapier-like blade flashes from his hand, zips past the others and stabs at the beetle before returning to his hand. Unfortunately the strike came nowhere close to the beetle put might have nicked the paladin on the way back. It at least clanked off his armor.
5 of 6 remaining.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Unfinished Wing, Date: Oathday, Pharast 25th, 4714 Time: 9:22 am, Temperature: 97 degrees outside and 77 degrees at current location.
Nulyth kicks the second beetle's mandibles off his leg and brings his scimitar back across his chest in a back-handed slash. He then reluctantly takes a step back to allow the halfling a clear shot at the creature, though still allowing him the ability to strike the creature should it pass by the paladin!
If the beetle is still standing after Neferteri and Nulyth have taken their pound of... chitin, Alexander again incants the magic imbued into his blade. "Manus magi! Honestly, I should perhaps take some lessons..." The blade zips past the two warriors and stabs at the beetle's compound eyes before flying back to its master.
As he waits to help with channeled healing, Holbrecht begins swapping his weapons by putting away his warhammer and drawing his sling.
Lin Zi moves up for a better line on her target and conjures a greenish orb of acid and flings it tumbling over Nulyth's head toward its intended target. The orb sailing past everyone and landing harmlessly at the end of the stairs as it burns into the ground.
As he waits to help with channeled healing, Holbrecht begins swapping his weapons by putting away his warhammer and drawing his sling.
Nulyth kicks the second beetle's mandibles off his leg and brings his scimitar back across his chest in a back-handed slash. The blow swings wide as the beetle jumps out of the way of the blow. He then reluctantly takes a step back to allow the halfling a clear shot at the creature, though still allowing him the ability to strike the creature should it pass by the paladin!
Neferteri fires again with his shortbow and this time the arrow meets its mark wedging itself between carapace plates and into the back of the creature. Neferteri then shifts behind Nulyth for cover.
The beetle advances forward snapping at Nulyth in a dance of sharp bites, but again Nulyth makes easy work of avoiding the advancing insect.
Alexander again incants the magic imbued into his blade. The blade zips past the two warriors and stabs at the beetle's compound eyes slashing and slicing as it goes. Pricking the beetle across its face before flying back to its master.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Unfinished Wing, Date: Oathday, Pharast 25th, 4714 Time: 9:22 am, Temperature: 97 degrees outside and 77 degrees at current location.
Nulyth continues his assault upon the beetle, hoping to end the fight quickly! He sacrifices a little accuracy to put some power behind his attack.
If the beetle is still standing, Alexander once again uses the power hidden in his blade, sending it spinning and stabbing across the distance that separated him from the pugnacious insect.
Holbrecht loads a stone into his sling, but pauses at launching it. He holds on until he has a clear shot. Currently he is not good enough with the weapon to risk trying with any of his teammates standing between he and it.
Lin Zi conjues a greenish orb of acid and flings it toward the remaining beetle. The orb sailing over the beetle and falls harmlessly down the stairs.
Holbrecht loads a stone into his sling, but pauses at launching it. He holds on until he has a clear shot. Currently he is not good enough with the weapon to risk trying with any of his teammates standing between he and it.
Nulyth continues his assault upon the beetle, hoping to end the fight quickly! He sacrifices a little accuracy to put some power behind his attack. The powerful swing of his scimitar slices the head off the remaining beetle as it twitches a few times before it stops moving. Glands still glowing just like the other one.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Unfinished Wing, Date: Oathday, Pharast 25th, 4714 Time: 9:23 am, Temperature: 97 degrees outside and 77 degrees at current location.
Lin turns away and silently screams Tien and sailor obscenities into her sleeve, chiefly directed at the acid orbs, her aim and magic in general, not in that order. After a minute or two, she turns back, wiping some sweat away. "Nicely done, guys... but leave me out of the beetle cutting-up duty please."
She bends over and summons Kachu, and sends him scurrying forwards to hesitantly check out the beetle tunnels.
Nulyth bows his head in silent prayer to Sarenrae for her protection and blessing. After a short moment he stands by while Neferteri moves to remove the glowing glands, taking the opportunity to clean the beetle ichor from his blade. "That is a good idea, Neferteri. Do you know how long they will continue to glow like that?"
As the battle ends, Holbrecht returns his weapons to where they were by putting the sling and stone away and his warhammer in hand. He then returns to his interrupted search of the small chamber.
Neferteri begins to cut away the beetle's bodies from their light glands, in all he harvested 4 glands. Holding them up, they produce about the same light as a torch but not as far, covering a ten foot area with a greenish glow and another ten feet out in dim light.
Kachu heads down to check out the tunnels, it looks like the two beetles were nesting down here, the tunnels are too small for even Kachu to get into.
Holbrecht completes his task that he had started before the beetle's showed up, he has determined that a secret door is hidden in the north wall of the chamber, however it does not look to be able to be opened from this side, no locking mechanism or the like on this side but it is definitely not budging.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Unfinished Wing, Date: Oathday, Pharast 25th, 4714 Time: 9:24 am, Temperature: 97 degrees outside and 77 degrees at current location.
While Holbrecht looks for mechanical mysteries in the room, Alexander defaults to scanning for magic.
"I do wonder how many more of these beetles are scurrying around," he says in a conversational tone of voice.
Holbrecht scowls at the wall as if it had made choice words about his mother's purity, "Well, isn't this just a fine notch in the cog? There's a door here, I'm absolutely certain of it, but it appears to be just an out door. I can't see where or how this is supposed to open, except to presume from the other side. It does however tell us one thing. There's another place with a door that leads here. though leading here isn't all that exciting.... there must be some reason to be able to only come this direction.... I wonder if it was the plan before this chamber was left unfinished...but why would the interred require a secret door between them? Regardless, this door gets us nowhere without breaking it open, and that's not an option."
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These things should shed light for a few days up to almost a week I figure. I heard that miners like them because there require no flame and cannot ignite any flammable gasses. Might be worth something, but lets use them for now. Keeping one he hands out the other three while also restocking his arrow supply back up to 10.
this does look like a dead end. Lets check out that other door. Having already checked it and unlocked it Neferteri takes a place in the second rank ready to explore.
"A few days at the least? Interesting...." He looks at the glands closely, though declines taking one for himself. "I have no need for any of these. Besides, I need both my hands for fighting. Perhaps Lin and Alexander should each carry one."
After Holbrecht and Neferteri examine the area and determine it to be a dead end, the paladin returns to the decorated room. He approaches the other door while the others prepare themselves. "Whenever you all are ready?"
With a few arcane words and gestures Alexander scans the small space for any signs of lingering magical auras, after a few moments he just shakes his head to let the others know that done had been detected. Whatever the ancient Osirani had purposed for this area it seems to not have been completed and rather had been left unfinished after Akhentepi had passed. Alexander rested his hand on the butt of his brothers pistol for a moment and let out a sigh. What exactly caused his brothers fate weighed heavily upon his mind.
Holbrecht meanwhile had his own battle going on in his head over the secret door that appeared to be only one sided and why exactly would it lead here. This was an unfinished part of the tomb and could hardly figure out what the doors planned intent was or what may lie on the other side. The door had been concealed well but why would it be locked from the other side as if to keep something from this side out. Again it ran his hands over the door looking for anyway of opening it but found none. If it wasn't for his innate ability to detect such things he might have missed its presence altogether.
Neferteri went to hand out the lighted beetle glands to the group, Alexander declined as he pointed to the ion stone floating around his head that was giving off light, he then turned to Nulyth who had declined the need of one. He then turned to Lin and Holbrecht. Lin had been very quiet lately and Holbrecht was busy studying the hidden door. He held on to the glands for the moment taking one and strapping it to the top right side of his pack. He would wait for the others to decide if they wanted one before determining if he wanted to carry all of the glands or not. With his new found source of light he let his magical spell expire from the stairway and then he quickly retrieved 3 of his arrows from Holbrecht's pack and placed them in his quiver.
Nulyth declining the lighted gland from Neferteri returned through the spiral tiled room and moved to the northern doors. Neferteri followed still trying to convince the stubborn paladin why he needed to have one of the glands. Like a salesman trying to hock his wares at the market Neferteri gave every reason he could think of to Nulyth on why he should carry one and what the benefits of it would be. Nulyth listened while he waited for the others to get into position before opening the doors.
As the magical dancing lights faded from the stairwell and Neferteri moved off with Nulyth the light level at the bottom of the stairwell faded to dim. The little blue monkey creature had determined he was not going to fit down the tunnels to investigate any further and with the dimming light he hastily returned to Lin's side. The creature was curious by nature and pocked at the gland that was strapped to Neferteri's pack as they waited on the others. It was jelly like and glowed green but had a squishy texture to them as if they held some kind of jelly. Kachu noted the slimy texture on his fingers and quickly wiped them clean, obviously having decided that the gland was not worth inspecting further.
With the urging of Nulyth, Holbrecht broke his gaze from the wall and followed the rest into the spiral room, he was still going over the puzzle of the door in his head when Nulyth broke the seal on the northern doors which quickly snapped him back to reality.
Nulyth cracked the double stone doors and opened them, in front of him he saw more stairs leading down. This time for only about ten feet before they were blocked by yet another pair of stone doors. The set of doors in front of him were plain with no markings but they had a strange raised edge around them where they met the floor, ceiling and walls. They also looked be be of heavier build than the doors that Nulyth just opened. Looking over to Holbrecht the dwarf responded for he knew that inquisitive look. Holbrecht informed Nulyth that the doors appeared to be air tight doors. Often seen in Osirani tombs right before the main tomb itself. They were used to preserve the contents of what would lie on the other side and to keep insects and other vermin out of the tomb as long as possible or until the deceased had sufficient time to pass beyond the grave.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Unfinished Wing, Date: Oathday, Pharast 25th, 4714 Time: 9:25 am
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To keep his encumbrance down Neferteri will store any of the orbs not claimed by his party in the small pack carried by Holbrecht. Better let me and Kachu check the stairs and door before proceeding. he says as he sets to work checking the western (left) side of the stairs down, along with the door in front of the group. He motions for Kachu to check the right side.
"I have no need of one of these beetle glands," Alexander says, indicating the glowing stone orbiting him like a moon. "Someone else can have mine."
The old man follows at the back of the group, letting the more battle-ready party members go ahead of him.
Nulyth eventually relents and agrees to allow Neferteri to attach one of the glands to his gear. After a moment, he admits the halfling's idea held promise, especially for his comrades attacking from a distance. Nulyth can illuminate the creature(s) he is attacking without need of magical assistance.
He nods to Neferteri and allows he and Kachu to pass by. He then remains in position, ready to rush to their aid should it be needed.
Holbrecht has been truly puzzled by the hidden door, and finally is fully back in the now. As the others look, he continues his practice of detecting poison and eyeing the surrounding walls for anything noteworthy. At the same time, he also turns down the gland. "Between your light, Alexander's light, and my own natural darkvision, I think we have enough. If we need more, I can get them from my pack."
Already carrying a load and not sharing his friend's insect distaste, Kachu takes a proffered gland and carefully places it inside a pocket on his bandoleer. In this environment light means being a target, particularly when the little monkey's keen eyes can already divine shapes and features in the darkness.
Moving as a team with the rest, Kachu heads into the secret room. He steps where Holbrecht steps, scanning the area as well before attempting to find any hidden devices.
Neferteri was happy to see that some of his comrades was open to taking and using the new sources of illumination. He passed one to Nulyth and one to Kachu and then gave the last one to Holbrecht to store for him. Then with a quick smile the halfling headed down the left side of the stairs and checked the stairway and airtight doors for traps and was relieved when he found nothing but smooth stone. The air again was much cooler as they continued deeper into the ground.
Alexander had declined the beetle's gland from Neferteri since his ion torch shed light for him as it encircled his head much like the moon around Golarion. He wondered to himself if this was actually the door to the resting place of his ancestor and if he would get some answers on the other side. He then cleared his mind and prepared himself waiting for the other members to give the all clear so the doors could be opened. He moved into position behind Nulyth, watching the halfling and the blue monkey descend the stairway.
Nulyth had finally agreed to take the gland from Neferteri. He affixed it to his pack as best he could. It was like holding a bag full of jelly. He could not help but wonder what exactly would happen if the sac was ruptured and what would be results of the jelly like substance inside spilling out upon him. Although he had to admit that it did have its usefulness and for now he would not worry much more about it. He now turned his attention to the stairwell and held his weapon at the ready should his two comrades need assistance down the stairwell.
Holbrecht meanwhile held on to his holy symbol and focused on the stairwell trying to get a sense if their were any poisons that may be hidden in a trap or mechanism or otherwise. He sensed nothing which was a good sign at the moment he guessed. It was everything he could do not to let his mind go back to wondering about the secret door. But he stood firm in his mind and kept his focus on the task ahead as he watched the stairwell beside Nulyth.
Kachu meanwhile managed to cram the beetle gland into a slot on his bandolier, the jelly like substance in the sac felt neither warm or cool to the touch. It was now his own personal light source and after making sure it was secured in place he sprang down the right side of the stairs to check them over, the blue skinned creature and Neferteri spent about four minutes on the set of stairs and the doors at the bottom before giving the all clear. No traps, tripwires or mechanisms could be found. Lin Zi meanwhile helped Holbrecht scout the area with a watchful eye looking for anything out of the ordinary. Lin had read about the airtight sealed doors before but she had never seen a set in person. How one could build stone doors to seal air tight was amazing to her and the craftsmanship and planning would have to have been done on the spot to make sure they sealed that way. And just to think, all of this was done without any magic involved. Just good old ingenuity.
Once the all clear was given Neferteri and Kachu stepped back and made way for Nulyth and Holbrecht to come down in front of them and open the doors. Once they were there Nulyth pushed on the doors which gave way with a loud hissing sound as air rushed inside. The air smelled stale here if only momentarily before the smell was gone.
Looking ahead the stairway continued down on the other side of the air sealed doors for another ten feet before coming to a stop at another set of ordinary smooth double stone doors. At least these did not look of the air tight variety. But it was extremely puzzling why someone would put air tight doors in the middle of a stairwell. Holbrecht scratched his head and shrugged, yet another puzzle that had no meaning as of yet. Holbrecht and Nulyth turned back to the rest of the group informing them of what they saw.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Unfinished Wing, Date: Oathday, Pharast 26th, 4714 Time: 9:30 am
"Hmm," Alexander says, eyeing the next set of doors. He incants a brief cantrip, scanning for magic.
'Those airtight doors... Might there be something sealed in this tomb? Something worse than we've seen so far? Or just more precious?'
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I do not like the idea of being on the wrong side of those sealing doors if they should close. Can we prop them open someway? At least lets put something to block them closing altogether. Neferteri recommends as he moves forward to check the left side of the passage and the left door for traps, taking 20 once more.
Holbrecht sizes up the doors himself, and thinks on it, "Well, I see two options. We could prop it open, wherein the onus of holding the doors is placed upon the material used to maintain their open posture. Or, we could try to disturb the hinging mechanism of the door itself in such a way that it lacks the ability to close until such a time when we fix it to return the tomb to its intended state."
He looks at all the others, before adding "The second option will be much harder and will require many of us working to make it happen."
Nulyth eyes the door warily, as if expecting it to close on them suddenly at any point. "Perhaps that is the purpose of the other door? In the even one gets trapped behind these doors unexpectedly? I agree, we should try to prop the doors open somehow..."
As was par for the course for Alexander again he recited the arcane words to show him any magical auras that were in the area and once again his detection methods came back with nothing but silence. The technology behind the air tight doors was definitely not magical and neither were the doors that now lay ahead past them.
Neferteri moved down the left side of the stairs once again and checked the left side and the doors at the bottom for anything suspicious. He could not find anything that even remotely would resemble a trap.
Holbrecht studied the mechanism of the air tight doors looking over them. The hinge system seemed to be built into the wall itself much like the doors at the tomb entrance on the outside. They could be swung open either way and when in place made a perfect air tight seal. The only way to stop the hinge mechanism would be to break the door itself or maybe the doors could be spiked open with iron spikes. Pitons would not help much due to the sheer weight of the doors.
Nulyht also studied the doors over with Holbrecht, not quite ready to move forward just yet.
Kachu quickly scampered down the right side of the stairs checking the walls and floors and doors and just like Neferteri he soon gave the all clear to proceed.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Unfinished Wing, Date: Oathday, Pharast 26th, 4714 Time: 9:34 am
Holbrecht raises his eyebrows as if someone had made a point he hadn't considered before, "Well, it does indeed seem disabling the door is moot. We can't do it without breaking it. We would need something heavy and solid to prop them open. Any ideas? What about any of the statues we've seen? Anyone think we could move one of those to do it?"
Nulyth looks at the doors once more; however, upon realizing the doors will open either direction his weariness drops a notch. "If the doors can be opened from either direction, I doubt we would need to secure them open. If for some reason the doors close behind us, we can simply open them from this side as well." He shrugs. "And if someone were to secure the doors behind us and lock them, well, this door is the least of our worries. If someone wants to lock us in down here, all they need to do is cut the rope at the entrance and smash our lift."
Having assured themselves somewhat about the air tight doors, Neferteri and Kachu again stepped back to make way for Nulyth and Holbrecht to take their place in front of the double stone doors. Once they were in position Nulyth opened the doors to the chamber that lay beyond. The chamber was huge and the minimum light provided by their beetle glands only gave them a glimpse of what lay beyond. Neferteri quickly uttered a few magic words and sent his dancing lights into the chamber to help with illumination.
At the center of this large octagonal room is a raised platform that forms a dais that rises a few inches above the floor, with a stone pillar at each corner. A gold-trimmed sarcophagus sits in the center of the platform, flanked by two statues of humanoid beings with canine heads, each of which holds an ankh in one of its crossed arms. Stone double doors exit the room to the north.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Unfinished Wing, Date: Oathday, Pharast 26th, 4714 Time: 9:35 am
Nulyth looks around the room, taking in the exquisite workmanship and the sarcophagus. "I believe we may have just located the resting place of your ancestor, Alexander."
Marveling over the size and great craftsmanship of the room, Holbrecht almost forgets himself in his role. He casts his spell to detect poisons, and then decides to walk opposite Nefer around the exterior of the room.
"I am inclined to doubt it, Nulyth," Alexander says. "There were no provisions for her after the death of Akhentepi. I doubt she lingered in this city after that, pregnant and alone."
The old man eyes the sarcophagus and frowns, his face a sudden mass of wrinkles.
"Of course I may be mistaken..."
Kachu mirrors Neferteri's movements, ape eyes peeled for bumps, for slats in the wall, for any signs of imminent mechanical death.
Lin walks up to stand in the doorway, eyes fixed on the sarcophagus before scanning to take in everything. "...wow. What a way to die." She scratches her neck before walking forward to quickly grab Holbrecht's shoulder, warning him off as per Neferteri's warning. "Back a bit, master dwarf, better move in the chosen patterns."
Neferteri slowly worked his way around the west wall of the room, once he got behind the western canine headed statue he almost stepped on a pressure plate that lay built into the floor. The pressure plate was ten foot by five foot and was set directly in front of a concealed secret door in the west wall.
Holbrecht meanwhile cast detect poison but could not see anywhere that a aura of that type was placed. Being assured there was no poison present he set off along the east wall looking for anything in particular, he had made it ten feet before Lin could stop him and warn him to let Kachu go first. After agreeing Holbrecht waited on Kachu and then followed the little blue creature as they checked the floor and walls. When the duo got behind the eastern canine headed statue they stopped as there was another secret door on this side of the room as well, however there was no pressure plate on this side as Neferteri had found on the opposite side of the room.
Alexander cast his detect magic into the room and looked for any secret auras. Unfortunately the detection failed to find anything within its range. Whatever was in the room was mundane as far as Alexander could detect.
Whatever this burial chamber held it was surely full of surprises, two secret doors and a pressure plate in the first few minutes of searching.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Burial Chamber, Date: Oathday, Pharast 26th, 4714 Time: 9:47 am