After the skeleton falls to the floor and Jhaik does his part to keep it down, Sister Mara uncorks her holy water and douses the corpse with the liquid. The remains begin to smoke, the blood and gore evaporating from the bones with a sound like a sigh.
"That seems to have taken care of it," Sister Mara comments once it is apparent that the skeleton won't rise again. "Keep an eye out for more, though," she adds as she resumes searching the crypt.
Beyond the shrouds and bones, Sister Mara finds nothing useful or interesting in the crypt.
and
Sister Mara moves behind the statue of the imperious, heavyset woman holding a mirror and a halberd to inspect the secret door for traps.
Auron calls Jhaik back to his side as he lights up a torch, holding it aloft for Sister Mara to work on.
Swinging open the stone door with ease, a cold breath of dusty air greets you. You find yourself facing a crypt similar to the others, but with a rime of ice crystals coating the walls and the remains of the dead.
Kua slowly begins to walk into the icy crypt but turns back to his companions before fully entering. "Does anyone have a torch that I could borrow? If one of these frozen corpses rises, I have a feeling, I'll need a bit of flame on my side."
"Here you go, Kua," Sister Mara says as she intones the words of minor prayer to the Everflame and touches the half-orcs axe, causing the weapon to illuminate with the radiance of a torch.
The half orc turns the axe around in his hand a couple times, and passes his hand through the harmless light effect.
"Thank you Sister but I was looking for something a little... hotter."
Eh? Use one o' me torches 'en. I reckon you'd wanna burn sumthin' too?
Auron passes his lit torch to Kua, while readying his warhammer.
The tomb gets colder and colder the further Kua steps into the room. Not a single frost-coated corpse stirs as he faces the dusty rear of the tomb.
Kua:
Kua:
Kua backs up quickly. "There is a brown mold in the back of the chamber causing this cold. If anyone has cold magic, it can easily be exterminated."
Yang shakes his head ruefully.
"I neglected to memorize my frost spell today. We may have to leave it be."
"Fair enough, lets close this one back up then." Kua pushes the statue back in place, resealing the crypt.
"Next?" Sister Mara asks, heading for the secret door behind the statue of Pharasma.
Uwais and Waya pad along quietly, as talkative as ever. The pair keep peering about cautiously.
"The challenges in this crypt seem endless. I wonder what the goddess of death has in store?"
'bout 'alfway through, with any luck, we might get sumthin' worthwhile.
The secret door behind the three-faced statue of Pharasma opens with a creak. The air within is dry and musty and not a sound emerges from within.
After a few hesitant steps within, you see that the bodies in most of the alcoves have crumbled to dust already. Those that have not look as if they're ready at any moment to do so. Silver glints in the alcoves- all told, you find seven ancient holy symbols of Pharasma interred with the clergy.
Waya noses among the funerary wrappings, turning up a bone. Before Uwais can reprimand her, he realizes that what she has found is actually a wand of some sort. Furthermore, the halfling's own keen senses reveal that there is a secret door set into the southernmost alcove, behind the crumbled mound of a shroud and its former inhabitant.
Sensing the naturalness of the chamber, Auron ventures in, torch held up high. Taking a look at the closest body, he prods it waiting for a response, before he begins collecting the silver holy symbols. Good thing the priestess ain`t around. voicing out loud.
The halfling holds the wand up, looking at it a little curiously, before passing it to Yang. "I'm no good with identifying magic," he says. "Does this make any sense to you?"
He also walks up to the secret door in the alcove, giving it a tentative push. "Door here," he states simply.
"I'll check it for traps," Sister Mara says, stepping through the crypt to inspect the secret door indicated by Uwais.
Certain that the door is free of traps, Sister Mara shoulders it open. A twenty five foot long corridor continues south from your position, before taking a left turn at the end. On the left hand side, about ten feet from your position, is an alcove in the hallway.
Kua moves along through the corridor carefully, using his dark vision to see into the alcove.
Perception
Kua is glad for his caution, as the alcove's floor is a square shaft leading straight down below Kaer Maga into darkness.
The warden kneels in front of the void. "A shaft. Looks like it leads further into the under city."
Kua peaks his head over the edge to see if there is any apparent end to the hole.
Dat woulda been sumthin' to mark on da map. With any luck, it coulda end up in da darklands.
Shrugging, Auron curiously drops his lit torch into the hole, just to see how deep it is.
"You did not need to do that. Here, let me ..." Yang casts dancing lights down the shaft, moving them slowly down so everyone can see what, if anything, the hole holds.
The torch falls for several seconds- by your arithmetic for at least 100 feet- before the light spreads out, revealing an opening somewhere further down the shaft. It continues to fall, giving similar indications on the way until the torch disappears. Listening carefully, you hear a faint splash echoing up the shaft.
"Looks like it splits off into another level about a hundred feet down. Yang, will your magic light reach down that far? Maybe we can get a better look down there."
Dat's a looong way down an' I don't that much rope with me. For now goin' down is not I wants to do.
"Looks like it splits off into another level about a hundred feet down. Yang, will your magic light reach down that far? Maybe we can get a better look down there."
"Yes, just. I can reach it to 120'." Yang tries to maneuver his lights to get a better look.
It's difficult to see much from this vantage... you think you can make out that the edge of the opening is finished stone (the structure was built with this hole running through it) and you can just make out what look like chains leading from the lower floor further down into the darkness.
Kua scratches at the coarse fur covering his cheek. "I'm guessing that I'm the only one who wants to go down there?"
"I think I'd rather be sure we've cleared the Ossuary of all hostile creatures before we descend further," Sister Mara responds to Kua's question.
"Makes sense. Just feeling a bit adventurous, I guess." The warden pulls out his map and scrawls some additional markings to cover his last few locations.
Kua scratches at the coarse fur covering his cheek. "I'm guessing that I'm the only one who wants to go down there?"
Yang looks at the hole, then at his own bulk. "I would prefer another way down, yes. Or maybe I could wait here.
"If not, we can note and come back at some point. Shall we check more of the statues?"
"Let's see what's around the bend in this passage before we move on to the next statue," Sister Mara suggests, pointing down the corridor to where it turns to the left.
Auron nods in agreement, fishing out another torch from his pack before he sparks it alight.
Your party takes a left at the corridor to find that it zig-zags south for about five feet before turning east for twenty five feet, curling once more north.
Rounding that corner in turn, you find yourself facing a portcullis or gate made from what looks like bleached bone. Through the gaps, you see a large chamber with many alcoves lining the eastern and western walls. There doesn't seem to be any obvious lever or catch for the gate.
Uwais walks to the gate and raps a knuckle upon it, trying to decipher an opening mechanism. "Curious," he states quietly.
Careful little 'un. Seen 'nough o' this place to be muckin' 'bout with funny gates an' doors.
Auron holds aloft his torch, taking in his new surroundings.
Uwais raps his knuckle on the gate only to hear a loud click as a serrated bone slashes at him from the gate itself.
Gate attack vs. Uwais:
Fortunately, the halfling's size proves a distinct advantage and the blade swings straight over him without even clipping a hair from his head.
Told you so. Lucky it wuz you than me.