"Keil probably right about trap, but we should look for trigger to disarm and make room safe. Black skeletons guarded other entrance we found to goat-prince's dungeon. Probably same here."
With that, Brok scans the room to look for secrets.
(+2 for traps)
Grezzor observes the external portion of the mausoleum, his attention focused on the greenish gargoyles, as previously suggested by Keil, and overall to make sure the ruckus they caused does not call unwanted attention.
Grezzor along with Keil peer outside through the driving rain, punctuated by the flashes of jagged lightning, can tell instead of the eight green gargoyle statues ringing the top of the mausoleum, there is one less statue.
Meanwhile Vargrenz quickly determines the entire stone floor of the mausoleum is not stable and definitely was designed to shift in some way.
Brok does find a secret trap door located due south of the sarcophagus, between it and the south wall is a 10 ft. slab of stone which looks like it may be pulled upwards.
"Goblin-Brok find trap door in floor."
he rechecks the trap door for danger.
(+2 for traps)
"Is it trap, or is it way?"
"Brok think whole floor trap to squish dummies on ceiling, but trap door in floor is way to keep from being squished."
"Hrmph." A dispassionate grunt suggests Keil already had a good idea of what sort of trap this chamber was. Vargrenz and Brok's report affirm the shadowy man's suspicions and does little to improve his opinion of this entrance, "We should search for another way. Until the trigger is found, this portal is unsafe if we need it for an exit." The fetchling spits for emphasis.
"Besides. Trouble's coming. A gargoyle statue is missing." Pointing to the spot where the statue had been, Keil mutters a few choice words then reaches behind him, drawing the enchanted mace from the folds of his cloak once more. "The fact it has not attacked us already suggests another trap has sprung. That the other statues remain is both troubling and, reassuring." The shadowy man keeps his eyes focused on the grounds outside as well as the night sky, watching for the slightest sign of movement.
Grey hung his bandoleer over his shoulder again. He said nothing for now, letting the scouts do their jobs.
Brok looks over the trap door and does not see any obvious triggers upon it, though it is far too heavy for the goblin to lift up.
Keil finds picking anything out of the air next to impossible due to the driving rain, but does not see any immediate threats.
At the realization that one of the gargoyles is missing, and the fact that the inside of the mausoleum seems to be some sort of death trap, Grezzor takes a few steps back, to stand at the treshold as the others try to dislodge the trap door.
"So where we go?"
"Brok need Arlok to lift heavy floor...." the goblin says, pointing to the hidden floor panel.
"ok"
The godling is able to lift the heavy stone slab without too much effort. Beneath the trap door is a ladder leading downward, set in the wall of a circular shaft which descends into the darkness below. The smell of death radiates from the open pit as it descends downwards, but all is silent below.
"Arlok strong, watch out goblin Brok." He lifts and pushes the slap over leaving the passage down clear.
"Arlok go first."
He begins to climb down assuming the others will soon follow.
The sound of stone scrapping on stone draws Keil's attention to what Arlok and Brok are up to. The shadowy man raises an eyebrow as he watches the godling take point, disappearing into the shaft, Risky...
Entering at this point is not Keil's ideal choice. Turning to Grezzor and Grey the fetchling comments as much, "If this part of Rappan Athuk is anything like the other portions we've searched, this crypt will eventually be our exit. If that trap lays in wait, some insurance is needed, starting with that key."
Using the key he'd found to open the mausoleum had triggered some spell which whisked the key away. Before heading down into an unexplored dungeon, the shadowy man is curious to know where that key went. Taking pains to avoid drawing any unwanted attention to himself, that gargoyle is still unaccounted for, the shadowy man slips into the storm to roll the dice on his hunch. He returns to the statue of the dwarf, making for the exact spot he'd originally found the magical key with hopes of retrieving it.
Excited by finding the entrance to the dungeon, Brok doesn't notice that Keil is gone.
"Smell like deads things, must be right place. Let Brok scout."
Brok clambers down the wall of the pit to investigate.
(+2 for traps)
Grey waited for Arlok and Brok to descend before following them.
Keil exits out into the driving rain quickly finding himself soaked to the bone. Still the trip back to the dwarven statue is without incident. A quick perusal shows the iron key sitting in its compartment, just as the fetchling suspected.
Brok meanwhile heads down the shaft, alert for any trouble. The circular shaft descends 30 ft. below the floor of the mausoleum above to a hallway covered in freshly packed dirt. There are some blood stains and smears on the walls of the hallway, which are made of roughly worked stone, including one rather recent large hand smear of blood on the north wall. None of the stains appear recent however. The passage leads east and comes to a dead end some 100 ft. later. At the end of the passage is an obvious ten-foot deep 5 ft. by 5 ft. pit. There is a rope pegged into the wall that descends into the pit. At the bottom of the pit is a poorly hidden man-sized secret door, which begins 3 ft. off the ground from the floor of the pit.
Having proved his hunch, Keil takes the key once more, stashing it safely away within the folds of his cloak before returning to the mausoleum. Once there, the shadowy man ensures the lock on the door is accessible from either side of the metal door. With no other clues pointing to what may or may not spring the trap within this chamber, the shadowy man concludes that only duplicating his actions to gain access into the mausoleum will be the safest way out.
Nodding to Grezzor that his task is done, Keil makes for the remains of the black skeleton. As before, when they'd first encountered these brutes, Keil takes up several pieces of the skeleton; ribs bones, femurs, its skull and mandible, then stuffs them into his pack. The fetchling next scatters the rest across the chamber, kicking pieces of spinal column out the door and finally knocking the pelvis down the shaft. Only after the sounds of bone careening down the shaft's walls stop, does the fetchling give a forgetful warning, calling down to those below, "Watch your head."
His insurance policy almost completed, the shadowy man waves Grezzor and Vargrenz on, "The others will be waiting," before he makes his way down the ladder to join Grey, Brok and Arlok below. Once there he retrieves the pelvis and plants it firmly into the ground before the ladder where it will be noticed. Keil's explanation is brief, "If it remains here, it will be one less thing to dwell on."
Finally joining the goblin ranger, Keil surveys the pit, "Too obvious. We should be wary."
Arlok looks down into the pit, then to Brok.
"That secret door not very secret. We wait on others?"
Not trusting anything obvious, Brok checks the "secret" door for traps.
(+2 for traps)
"Maybe meant to be a trap..." the little goblin tells the half-ogre.
As Keil returns to the others, descending the ladder to rejoin the others, he sees the black skeleton bones to not seem inhibited. The same cannot be said for the iron key, which vanishes from the fetchling possession.
The door, which is not trapped, begins 3 feet off the ground from the floor of the pit and opens by pulling up and out on a small knob on the bottom of the door. Beyond the door is a passage made of worked stone that angles to the north-east after about 30 feet, ending at yet another door.
When he notices the key is missing, Keil does a double take, patting himself down. Lifting items while no one is looking, or more importantly, paying attention is a skill Keil prides himself on. The sense of gratification that comes from a successful pinch is, addictive. Being at the other end of that equation, the fetchling shakes his head despondently, "Faa! Magic..." The fetchling does not feel the need to elaborate any further than that.
Looking at the door Keil sighs, "Looks like the only way." Cautiously pushing the door open, Keil's eyes scan the passage of worked stone beyond, checking the walls and floor for surprises.
"Done collecting souvenirs?" Brok asks Keil (using a suspiciously large word for a goblin) as the fetchling rejoins the scout.
Keil scoffs, "Just making sure." The shadowy man does not shift his gaze from the passage as he fills his companion in on the rest, "The key returned to the statue; magically tied. Getting out may be, interesting."
Seeing the door is not trapped the fetchling opens the door, which opens easily. As the door swings aside a whiff of foul air assaults your senses, nearly triggering your gag reflexes. As you all move further inside the passageway, the smell only gets worse. For all intents and purposes it smells as if you have walked into a latrine, though you do not see any signs of sewage or any other material that is triggering the stench.
Moving onwards the passageway splits into two directions: one heads off to the east and appears to open into a small room. The other passage angles to the northeast a short distance, the rough stone passage also branching off in two.
Hero point
Brok sneaks down to the first left-hand passage and checks for danger.
(+2 for traps)
Unmoved by the smell about him, Keil leapfrogs past his skilled counterpart, slinking north to scout ahead and entrusting the eastern passage to Brok.
Arlok follows along
Necromancers have strong stomachs, and the mask acted as a filter. The stench did give Grey an idea though...
Keil moves off to the north while Brok heads to the eastern room...
The closest branch soon ends in a dead-end so continuing northward reveals a small room. On the far end, near an archway leading to a passage beyond, rests a coffin without a lid. The coffin lies empty. The passageway and room beyond ends in a cave-in. Unless you wish to spend days of back-breaking labor digging, this is a dead end as the rubble fills the room all the way to the ceiling.
The room beyond the passage is strewn with bits of bones and loose dirt. A cool breeze blows by, and whispering can be heard off in the darkness. This room has several small piles of bones looted from the graveyard above. The air is drafty and rather fresh. One of the piles of bones reveals a rat corpse that has been eaten as if by acid and clearly the cause is a small batch of has some residual green slime, still very dangerous.
Keil had seen a cave-in before in Rappan, which the party had largely ignored. This cave-in however sparks an idea in the shadowy man's head, If our need becomes great, this could be a way out...
But first things first, moving closer to the coffin the shadowy man thoroughly inspects the interior for signs of what may have been in there. Curious to know what happened to the body, Keil suspects the remains may have re-animated and may still be lurking somewhere within these tunnels. Keil makes a mental note to inform the witch of his suspicions.
Lastly, the fetchling assesses the debris from the cave-in. Climbing to the top of the pile, Keil employs his traveler's many tool as a shovel to test its consistency and check for gaps which may open up into the void created by the collapse.
Brok studies the passage floor, walls, and ceiling for more slime or other dangers.
(+2 for traps)
and lights a torch to use in burning it away.
A quick search of the area around the coffin indicates whatever was kept in the coffin is long gone. Judging by the old tracks left behind you think maybe another adventuring party looted whatever was here.
The cave-in probably is a natural one judging by the lack of marks of magical origin. The ceiling is about 20 feet up, and it is packed with a mixture of earth and bedrock. It will take many hours of hard labor to clear a passage, unless magical means are used.
Brok is easily able to burn away the slime, which reveals a smattering of copper coins after a brief search . There is a door made of iron-reinforced wood which is closed and untrapped. Opening it reveals an empty passage that heads east for a short distance before ending at another door.
Brok returns to the group to find out what Keil found down his passage.
"Brok clear slime and find two doors." he tells the party.
Returning down the hall, his clasped together in thought, the fetchling presents his findings, "Two dead ends. The first, probably random digging." Keil waves a hand over his shoulder as though to wave off the first branch, "The other end holds a coffin and is caved-in. Someone," the shadowy man places special emphasis on this to imply a warning, "has pilfered it contents. Unless they perished beneath the rubble, or at the hands of the black skeleton, we may not be the only ones down here. The body is also missing." With a quick glance in Grey's direction Keil continues, "It may have animated and disappeared. The cave-in occurred naturally," the fetchling shrugs to suggest speculation on his part but he has no proof to suggest otherwise, "and has filled the rest of the chamber." Keil pauses to give the others time to assess his report before adding, "The debris might be cleared and used as another exit, should the need arise. A difficult task by hand, but by magical means, easily done." No wizard, Keil bases his reasoning mostly on what he's heard of magic's almost limitless power, not what he's seen.
Keil eyes the burning torch in Brok's hand cynically then moves silently east. Trusting in the goblin's ability to have cleared the room ahead, the shadowy man's yellow eyes pick out the signs of Brok's handiwork, noting the smell of something recently being burnt as he makes his way towards the two doors.
"Watch for slime." Brok hisses at Keil as he passes.
It is not easy for Grezzor to come to terms with the smell, but once he does, the small goblin falls in line after the others, soon back on track with the scouts.
"What kind of slime?" Grey asked, moving with the group.
"Green slime .... very bad."
Grey briefly considered how difficult it would be to collect a sample, but decided he could always come back later.
Moving through the door at the end of the east corridor leads you to some kind of viewing room, judging by the broken candelabras and a worm-ridden red carpet have been left long ago. There is a wooden casket in the center of the room that has had its once decorative silver trim rudely pried off. Peering inside the casket shows it appears empty.
There are a pair of exits from here, a crack in the wall which dead-ends quickly, and steps heading downward that lead to another room.
"We go? Arlok ready."
Brok creeps down the stairs carefully and examines the room at the bottom.
(+2 for traps)
Quietly bringing up the rear, Keil checks the goblin's work knowing between the two of them, almost nothing will be overlooked.