Telling the others about the scorpion and that it seems to be non poisonous, he helps dumah with the knots.
"You should go down first, Dumah, you can see in the dark and you are tough as nails and then some."
"I certainly don't mind, but the sunrod you dropped down earlier I think has us covered for light for a few hours."
Unless someone else jumps in and says they should go first, Dumah will take the lead down. He'll tie his pack and any others to the end of the knotted rope and lower them down. Then he'll take 10 to climb down himself. Once down, he'll ready his axe and keep watch.
Assuming no issues, he'll end in H3, leaving H2 free for others to climb down.
"I feel fine at the moment, Miss Saedue. I will say so if I begin to feel differently." Anset says quietly.
Dumah not trusting the old piton that was in place drove a new piton home in the edge of the pit. He then sits down two lengths of his rope and begins knotting them. The finish product being 80 feet of knotted rope. He then attaches the rope securely to the new piton and chunks its length down the hole to the chamber below. Then lowering his pack along with Saedue's down the rope first, then he prepared to follow.
Repelling down the shaft, Dumah could feel the eyes of his companions upon him with each hop he took, Bjoern and Aneset standing by to catch the rope should the piton fail and give way. Coming free of the shaft he hung limp in the air for a brief second, before landing softly on the floor of the chamber below. Mirrored images of a warriors profile, facing inward, were carved on a pair of ornate stone doors set in the west wall of the room. Prepared for battle, the figure carved into the stone was a fearsome one, an ancient warrior of Osirion. His shield faced Dumah, a scarab set into the face of it, a large curved Khopesh raised above his head, wearing naught but padded armor.
Slowly the dwarven warrior took in the room, the light emanating from the sunrod lighting up the entire room. A crumpled body lay in front of the doors, a hint of the bitter scent of decay still clinging to the long since rotted corpse. All that as left of the thing was the bones and what the poor soul had been wearing when they had met their end. Moving slightly close, Dumah saw a dried stain underneath the bones, one that marred the stone floor under it. Finding the room clear other than the body, he called up to the others, Bjoern and Anset followed quickly behind the dwarf and descended into the room. The first thing everyone notices after a few moments is that it is much cooler down here.
The other three members of the group stayed at the top of the pit, not wanting to crowd the area below quite yet.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Lower Shaft Room, Date: Wealday, Pharast 26th, 4714 Time: 7:53 am, Temperature: 87 degrees outside the tomb, 77 degrees in current room.
Malik calls down to those who climbed down the rope "It looks a bit crowded down there, can you try and make some room for me to head down?"
"This is definetly more to my liking. It was getting hot up there. Let me check for any surprises.
Malik descends the rope into the room now as Bjoern begins scoring the area over the next 32 minutes checking for anything the room might have to offer.
From this perspective, the purpose of the shaft rooms becomes evident—they’re deathtraps without a mechanism. Creatures that descend the shaft without a reliable means to climb back out are effectively trapped, permanently. The opening in the center of the ceiling is 10 feet up with no adjoining walls, making it next to impossible to climb back out without a well-secured rope at the top of the shaft, flight, or magic.
The body in front of the doors is mostly skeletal, with a thin layer of desiccated tissue. The corpse’s gear has suffered decades of rot and rust and is mostly unusable, though a thorough search yields a couple of metal pitons and a usable hammer, as well as two vials of alchemist’s fire that have remained miraculously unbroken.
You identify the body as that of a male human or half-elf who obviously died down here. Both of the body’s legs are broken from a fall from a great height, and the unfortunate man apparently crawled to the doors before he expired.
The doors do not appear to be trapped, they are heavy and stuck a little.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Lower Shaft Room, Date: Wealday, Pharast 26th, 4714 Time: 8:25 am, Temperature: 92 degrees outside the tomb, 82 degrees in current room.
"Hold." Anset says after climbing down the rope and looking about. "Without magics or a very keen eye, the dead and the undead are indistinguishable. Any corpse found in this place should be approached with caution."
Dumah steps aside and begins gathering up their own gear.
He moves over to D4, unties their packs from the end of the rope and puts on his own pack. He picks up Sandrue's pack in one hand to make sure it is out of the way of the others. He picks up the sunrod in his other hand and holds it high to illuminate the room for the others.
Ends in D4.
With a word and a gesture Malik sweeps his eyes around the room as he attempts to study the area for any signs of present or residual magic.
Dumah retrieves his pack and that of Saedue's awaiting her arrival down the rope. Saedue carefully works her way down the rope and reclaims her gear, taking up a position next to Dumah, upon seeing the dead body she shudders and says in a low voice, almost a whisper "I hope we have better luck than the previous explorer did."
Malik begins to scan the room with a few magic words, looking for any sign of magic. Upon completing his task he detects nothing, not even a hint of magical energy anywhere in the room, however he was not able to penetrate the thickness of the stone doors.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Lower Shaft Room, Date: Wealday, Pharast 26th, 4714 Time: 8:26 am, Temperature: 92 degrees outside the tomb, 82 degrees in current room.
Bjoern waits till all are down, then he points to the door. "Once more for team muscle, eh?
Malik nods to Bjoern and replies "I don't detect anything magically amiss in this room so I believe that we can safetly open that door. Bjoern, Dumah, once more we leave it in your hands."
Bjoern will give the pitons to Dumah, and keep the hammer and ask who can safely carry the flaks. If no one says diffrent, he will carry them.
Bjoern takes 10
Amal waits in the low light at the top of the pit, watching the flickering lights and shadows cast by others below. He knows that he is the last one that has not went down the hole yet. Holding his position,, knowing this rope and piton is their only way out after he desends. He waits for the ok from below.
Bjoern hands over the 2 Alchemist Fire flask to Saedue, knowing she is more skilled with such devices than he. Once Saedue has them stored he moves over to the stone doors and puts his shoulder into them.
Resolved to press forward, Bjoern put his shoulder into the door. Sliding open with greater ease than the doors above ground, they groaned and creaked as they rolled across the stone floor, exposing the hall beyond.
The corridor beyond the doors was roughly ten feet wide. On each of the walls were identical brass bas-reliefs. These carvings depicted two great armies crashing against each other, leaders standing out as they were emblazoned with small shards of gemstones. Generals lead their armies from chariots, overrunning their enemies, the sheer expression of terror on the face of those rundown disturbingly realistic. At the far end of the hall in the dim light vast from the lower shaft room was another pair of stone doubled doors.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Lower Shaft Room, Date: Wealday, Pharast 26th, 4714 Time: 8:27 am, Temperature: 92 degrees outside the tomb, 82 degrees in current room.
Dumah passes Saedue's pack to her, then readies his shield. He moves up, shield in one hand and sunrod in the other, ready to follow the trap experts forward.
Move to F4.
Checking for any traps
Saedue takes her gear from Dumah as Dumah takes up a position by the doors to further light the proceeding hall with the sunrod. Bjoern moves into the hall and begins to check for traps along its length.
Anset begins to make rubbings and study the images carved on the doors in the lower shaft room benefiting now from the close proximity of the light. Anset studied the intricate carvings, looking for any signs or information to be gathered. Mirrored images of a warriors profile, facing inward toward each other, one on each of the stone doors. Prepared for battle, the figure carved into the stone was a fearsome one, an ancient warrior of Osirion. His shield faced outward toward anyone facing the set of doors, a scarab set into the face of the shield, a large curved Khopesh raised above his head, wearing naught but padded armor. Though they showed incredible craftsmanship and skill, Anset thought that they might be a representation of Akhentepi, though there was no certain indication to make it clear.
Bjoern spotted the trap easily enough, a cleverly hidden pressure plate laid into the floor just before the western set of engraved double doors. The engravings on the insides of both sets of doors resemble those in the lower shaft room, except that the man in the engravings is depicted as an older man riding in a chariot. He carries the same scarab shield, but his other arm points at his own reflected depiction on the opposite door.
Careful Bjoern moves back to the lower shaft room to alert the others and warn them away from stepping on it, he is fairly certain the trap has never been triggered, though it is hard for the ranger to say. Pointing it out to the others, the ranger spent a few more moments investigating, finding tiny holes throughout the reliefs on either side of the hall. It seemed as if when the pressure plate was depressed, several sets of small pressurized tubes would fire off a rain of small darts from the walls. If they wanted to go any further, disarming the trap seemed to be a necessity.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Trapped Corridor, Date: Wealday, Pharast 26th, 4714 Time: 8:37 am, Temperature: 92 degrees outside the tomb, 82 degrees in current room.
"You've already found one aspect of history here," Saedue says to Bjoern as he points out the trap. "I almost feel bad disabling it, as here we have encountered the legendary traps of ancient Osiron. Apparently Akhentepi was not simply boasting about such traps in his tomb, and this one looks very painful."
IN truth, it takes the alchemist a few moments and stupid blinks to figure where the trap actually is located. Stubborn as the offspring of a mule and an ox Saedue is, but observant she is not. She clenches her teeth, however, when she notices the holes where the darts would emerge from. Doubtless the poison has long since dissipated, but to be torn and marked and possibly killed is hardly an auspicious beginning. She looks to their skilled trap cleaners.
"Here is your time, Bjoern," she says while looking up, "I don't think Amal is ever going to come down here." now turning her attention to Bjoern "You said when we met, how you know your way around these dark corridors and dangerous traps. Let us see your work. I'm afraid I won't be of much help. I do suggest that you carry a light source in there with you and let us close these doors first, you know, just in case." she says as her small elfish voice trails off.
In reality, Saedue can do little. She knows nothing about such mechanisms. Not waiting for a response from Bjoern she moves over out of the way of the open doors.
Looking at the pressure plate Bjoern smiles. "Dumah can you help me with the armor please?" Undoing his armor Bjoern carefully selects a few probes, lies down to be under the worst of the traps effect andstarts his art."Well, you might want to stay back
The trap would have been very advanced for its time, and held up remarkably well under the weight of time. Bjoern had seen many such traps only become more dangerous with each passing year, the coils and tight tubes that regulated when the mechanism triggered becoming hyper sensitive as they degraded.
Wiping at a bead of sweat on his forehead, Bjoern slowly inserted his tools and began to tinker. The trap itself was fairly basic in principle, but tricky to disarm, making it a favorite among the Katapeshi and Native Orisani. Trying to free the counterweight that held the plate in place, all without setting it off, Bjoern almost triggered the damned thing after bobbling his tool just a bit.
Exhaling slowly Bjoern tries again
Now knowing what to do, Bjoern manages to disarm the trap.
With a little shout of joy, he jumps up and, with the help of Dumah, dons his armor again.
The others held their breath as Bjoern was close to finishing the job and approached the all important moment. Severing the final bit of taunt wiring, he waited for a few seconds, half expecting to be buried under a rain of darts.
Thankfully, the rain never precipitated. Poking the plate, it seems that he had indeed disarmed the trap. Rising from the sand covered floor, he returned to the lower shaft room and reclaimed his armor and gear and then he went striding back down the hall toward the closed doors at the far end.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Trapped Corridor, Date: Wealday, Pharast 26th, 4714 Time: 8:38 am, Temperature: 92 degrees outside the tomb, 82 degrees in current room.
Dumah claps him on the shoulder as he helps him with his armor. "Well done, that was!"
Before they advance, Dumah will put a foot on the corpse and roll it partially over to confirm how he died.
Healing check
"Meh. Doesn't matter."
Dumah holds up the sunrod and moves along.
F3 to check the body, then advancing to B3 to move on.
"The shield on the guardian is warding toward that door. I do not believe this is coincidence. The door is likely meant to hold back the guardians of the tomb as much as it is to keep treasure seekers at bay. We should ready to be attacked when the door opens."
Anset moves back into position behind the warriors, next to Saedue.
Bjoern nods and prepares for the opening of the door.
Saedue will move up behind the warriors, staying back about 10 feet and will help Anset study the Bas-Reliefs that run the length of the hall. Especially paying close attention to how the dart holes fit into the overall scene. Commenting to Anset "Obviously this is a scene from a great battle in Osirion history. But which one? There were so many. I also believe that this Akhentepi may have been some kind of military commander here in Wati. Judging by all these carvings, a wealthy one at that." She speaks in a soft quite tone.
In actuality Saedue is trying to cover her limited history knowledge with what is pretty obvious but sounds good to the untrained ears.
"Quite." Anset concurred. "This mural is likely but one of many. Like puzzle pieces, each will add to a clearer final picture of the history of this place."
Saedue continues her quiet conversation with Anset "Perhaps once we are clear of these next set of doors we may get a better look at the carvings on those as well. Looks like a different version of the same scarab shield wielding warrior as the last set of doors we just passed through only this time he is much older and riding a chariot." she pauses momentarily as if collecting her thoughts.
"Maybe the doors we just passed through was Akhentepi at the beginning of his military career, this hall now representing his battles and now the next set of doors present him as the commander on the chariot. Perhaps a progression from birth to the grave. But we did not see any childhood markings so maybe just his military career." she says as she continues to study the murals "Perhaps if we use the door images to pick out Akhentepi in each of the Murals we could learn more."
"Possible." Anset said with a thoughtful nod. "There is not enough information yet to tell, but as the mystery unfolds, that would be an excellent hypothesis to work from as a baseline."
Malik moves into the now trap free room and studies the murals with an air of boredom, ready to move on.
Amal finally descends the rope and joins the rest of the group in the formally trapped corridor.
Bjoern steps up to the doors to prepare for opening them once everyone is ready.
Saedue and Anset finish studying the murals, the tiny dart holes are placed throughout the murals usually in the eye sockets of the warriors and the center of the chariot wheels, etc to best hide them from a simple glance. The two murals are fairly similar, the one on the north wall pictures two armies clashing, the scarab shield warrior is on foot with a kopesh in hand slaying his enemies. The mural on the south wall depicts him as older in a chariot giving commands on the battlefield and running over his enemies in battle.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Trapped Corridor, Date: Wealday, Pharast 26th, 4714 Time: 8:50 am, Temperature: 92 degrees outside the tomb, 82 degrees in current room.
Amal quietly glances around the room, quickly observing the murals as he broods over not being the one to disarm to trap. He then glances forwards as he waits for the door ahead to open, hands resting on the hilts of his short swords that are sheathed on his side. "I can't help but wonder how long it'd take to put one of these places together.."
"I am so glad you finally joined us. Well wonder later, open the door. Dumah and me will be prepared to brunt whatever come through that door."
With a smile to show that he is not angry Bjoern grips his flail and shield and prepares for the worst.
Dumah nods in agreement with Bjoern. He adjusts the shield on his left arm and continues to hold the sunrod high, ready for the doors.
Saedue nudges Amal. "Go on up there. I think they need you." she says in a hurried tone.
She is kind of giddy since making the hypothesis about the carvings and is very very anxious to see more and it is quite apparent with her nudge of Amal.
Patience, patience, its just not me, not now, not here.
Saedue impatiently steps forward to the door, grasp the handle and throws her tiny sholder into it, opening the doors.
On the other side of the door hung a faded tapestry in an intricate and hand carved wooden frame. Swaying slightly as a gust of fresh air rushed into the room as the doors swung open, the tapestry was securely hung from the western most wall of the small chamber. Faded though it was, there was something comforting and enjoyable in the picture. A middle aged man, accompanied by a woman and two children, stood together in front of a small estate, though the details had long since faded it stood to reason it must have been a picture of Akhentepi and his family. To either side of the painting were two pedestals of white marble. Atop each of the columns sat two preserved animals. Stone double doors, same as they had opened to enter the Foyer, led to the north and south.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Trapped Corridor, Date: Wealday, Pharast 26th, 4714 Time: 8:53 am, Temperature: 92 degrees outside the tomb, 82 degrees in current room.
Since Bjoern found and disarmed the first trap, Dumah will stay behind him. He follows in his steps for the most part, and holds the light for his survey of the room.
Move to F2, and will stay one square behind Bjoern with shield and sunrod.
Anset waited calmly, his eyes slowly running over everything in the new room. Checking doors for traps and safely unlocking them took time. Anset was the soul of patience. There was always something new to consider in a relic-filled tomb.
Waiting for amal to check for traps.
Amal slowly makes his way into his room, a smirk beneath his mask. His eye's scan the room carefully as he searches for any traps. "Hmm... lets see what else you have your sleeves.." he mainly mumbles this to himself but others would be able to hear him if they were listening.
The two mummified creatures didn't need much in the way of medical expertise to be identified, both still retaining their familiar feline shape. It was a none too uncommon practice in Ancient Osirion, and even today, for men and women to be buried with their pets, cats especially. Among the old gods felines held a special place, guardians of the underworld and the most desirable of companions to cross over into the next life with. Amal studied the tapestry further, finding a few hieroglyphs near the bottom were still readable. It was difficult to make the entire meaning out, as some had faded, but it seemed that before Akhentepi had become famous for his military efforts, his family had all perished from some kind of accident or sickness. It stood to reason then that they were likely not buried with him.
Studying the room and the adjoining doors to the north and south, Amal was unable to find anything suspicious. There were no locks on the doors or traps lying in wait, the room an ante-chamber of some sort and empty save for the tapestry and mummified cats. Anset was unsure if the tapestry would survive being taken down and hauled from the tomb, least not without some kind of preservative magic cast on it or some mechanism to keep it intact. Rolling it up and storing it in their packs would be disastrous for such an ancient thing. The question before them then was north or south, no clear answer to be found.
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Current Location: Tomb of Akhentepi: Ante-Chamber, Date: Wealday, Pharast 26th, 4714 Time: 8:56 am, Temperature: 92 degrees outside the tomb, 82 degrees in current room.
Saedue will move over to the most northern mummified cat and begin studying the creature, careful not to touch it. Trying to determine cause of death before mummification. Also would like to appraise them and see if it would be valuable to the Grand Mausoleum if brought to them.
Bjoern smiles and takes out a coin.
"Well if booth ways seem the same, let lady luck decide. Heads north, tail south...... a lady luck says south!"
Malik considers Bjoern and nods "I can agree with this sentiment, but let me see if I can detect any magic from either direction first."
Once more with a word and a gesture Malik scans for magic, paying special attention to the two doors in the hopes of feeling anything beyond them.