Test
Phillip notes where a stream of air seems to be coming out from between a couple of the heavy stone blocks. Looks like from the decorations it was a sealed up doorway that has cracked over the years. Looks like you'll need some muscle or some time with a crowbar.
Professor Forol leans way out over the lip of the well.
"What? What did you find?"
Yep, he's gonna fall.
Bryson-cat leaps up and grabs hold of Forol's shirt.
CMB
Ghirrak sees Bryson react so stays where he is.
"Professor, you should move from the edge.
"Looks like there's an old sealed off doorway down here!" Phillip hollers back up the well. "Does anyone have a crowbar? It won't take much to open it up."
He spends a bit of time rummaging through the trash at the bottom of the well to see if any of the old gear down there could act as a crowbar to help open up the hidden passage.
"Of course. Never leave home without your tools," Dgrim preaches, before making his way down the well.
Bryson-cat manages to easily jump and catch Professor Forol by the scruff of his jacket as he overbalances and topples into the well.
Working effiently, the companions climb down into the well along with Phillip. Working together with Dgrim's crowbar, they shift several large blocks aside, leaving a narrow passage open to exploration.
Bryson-cat will go first. His sleek feline form won't be hampered by the narrowness of the passage.
Squeezing through the narrow opening, you abruptly emerge into a larger chamber than you have seen before.
A ten-foot wide, fifty-foot long landing overlooks an even larger chamber to the north (lost in darkness now), accessible by a short flight of downward sloping stairs.
The entrance to the larger rom is framed by dozens of olman styled skeletons carved into the fifty-foot wide arch, their bones intertwined with hundreds of carved snakes.
Unnerving ripples of black smoke slither and dance among the carvings.
This archway is a symbolic creation marking the entrance to the ancient Olman land of the dead, marking the chambers beyond as an ancient crypt, or perhaps a place where the priests prepared the dead for their journey into the afterlife.
Bryson-cat growls in wonderment at the ancient crypt.
Annie rests a hand on Bryson's shoulder as she leans forward carefully to look around.
"This place seems fair strange," she muttered, then asked Cayden Cailean for the ability to see magical auras around her.
Phillip scans the room carefully. When his eye catches the swirling ripples of smoke or energy among the carvings his curiosity overcomes his instinct for survival as he steps up to take a closer look.
Perceive a powerful magic coming from the archway itself. You also perceive a less powerful, but more subtle magic coming from the chamber beyond.
The magic in the archway is some kind of powerful Evocation. And the magic is old; so old that it has become erratic. Perhaps in a few decades it will fail altogether.
The magic in the chamber beyond is not so powerful, but just as old. And subtle. You can just barely perceive a complex tracery of enchantments on the floor. Threads of Conjuration and Illusion done by an old master.
"Ooh!" Annie whispered as her hand involuntarily tightened on Bryson-cat's shoulder for a moment, and then whistled in appreciation of the magic she saw before her. "Careful, now, everyone! That smokey stuff appears to be some sort of powerful magic. It's like to burn my poor eyes! It appears to be the same type of magic that fuels fireballs, lightning and missile magics! Beyond is something else...I can't make it out, the explosive magic is so strong, but it looks to be conjuration and illusion. Summoning? Acid? And some sort of trickerly, it seems. But it's beyond my skill to produce." Annie shakes her head and looks at the other magic users in the party. "What do you think? That archway is worrisome, I think. It feels...shaky. Like it wants nothing more than to fly apart in our faces, it's so old and rickety."
When you step forward to look out from under the archway, you see...
Tamoachan.
The ancient capitol of the ancient Olmen is recreated in miniature on the floor of the cavern here.
The buildings, ziggurats, highways, tenaments, alleyways, cisterns and shops of every size is laid out at your feet. Even to ships just offshore.
Bryson-cat looks upon the diorama in wonder and awe.
"Oh my!" Says Phillip. His eyes take in the fine and intricate detail of the miniature city. After a few minutes his wonder is set aside by more practical matters. He starts to scan the model to see if he can recognize the temple or building they entered.
"That is impressive, the work of a true master. Makes me wonder if magic was involved?"
Wandering out amongst the scale model of the ancient capitol, you see just offshore a perfect model of the Savage Kraken! This is a scale model of the ancient city as it exists right now!
You can see the tiny tents of the expedition, and even the trees growing over the old pyramids.
Then a flare of red blazes forth, and suddenly the archway behind you is filled with fire.
That is one very hot fire; probably an advanced Wall of Fire, along with something else...
Annie blinks and stares at the fire wall, her magical detection still active.
"See! Like I said! Fire and stuff!"
Do I see a set of controls or, barring that, a good place to dodge to or hide?
Noticing that there is more to this model than first meets the eye, Phillip starts to say something but instead just stands dumbfounded for a second as the archway bursts into flame.
With the sudden feeling of being trapped Phillip searches the room for any exits, obvious or otherwise.
Don't know why I didn't put in a perception roll.
Perception
Perception
Perception:
Glancing around, you see no obvious controls.
Then the flames burst up and form a wall across the entire wall of the cavern.
A loud voice begins declaiming in the Olman language as the wall of fire starts rolling forward.
"BEHOLD THE DOOM OF TAMOACHAN! YE FAITHLESS OF QUETZACOATL! BEHOLD THE DOOM OF TAMOACHAN..."(repeats)
With the fire blazing forth, you can see the whole cavern fairly well now. Even the fascinating details of tiny human figures fleeing down the miniature city streets from the oncoming wall of fire. But this won't help you now.
Then you notice that in the east side of the cavern, there was a partial collapse of the cavern wall some sixty yards away. It might be deep enough to protect you from the fire. But now it's a footrace across difficult terrain; will the fire catch you before you can make it to safety?
Bryson-cat roars his tiny roar and moves to the east side of the cavern. He looks to make sure that Annie and the others are following.
Annie stares in horror at the destruction, and doesn't see anywhere obvious to go.
The flames go from floor to ceiling, and feel hotter than a standard Wall of Fire.
Annie will follow Bryson, then, and once safe from the worst of the fire, begin casting Create Water every round as rain at the ceiling of the entrance of the "cave"
Dropping down to his hands and knees, Phillip starts to panic as there seems to be no escape. Hearing Bryson's roar he turns and sees the big cat stalk to the potential safety of the collapsed wall.
With the hot flickering flames grasping at his cloak and body, the half-elf jumps to his feet and dashes toward the opening.
Bryson runs to where the partial wall collapse left a small cavity where the party might take some shelter, if they all squeezed in tightly.
Coming up behind him are first Ghirrak moving fast, then Professor Forol (with an astonishing turn of speed for such little legs), then Annie and Phillip. Annie turns and with a whispered prayer, a downpour of water falls on a section of the fire, and promptly evaporates in the heat.
This leaves only Dgrim still chugging towards your shelter. It’s going to be real close whether the fire catches Dgrim before he can make it or not.
[npc]
With a heroic effort, Dgrim dives into the shelter just ahead of the oncoming wall of fire.
As his heavy armored body hits yours, the weakened ground collapses under your feet and you fall into a black void.
You fall, making contact with a rocky wall various times and ending up in a heap among a rocky scree. It is utterly black.
You have sustained bludgeoning damage. You can make an Reflex save DC15 for half damage.
Ducking back and away from the flames Phillip breathes a quick sign of relief at having escaped the cleansing fire. However, before he can say a word to his companions he suddenly feels the floor start to shake and give way. With a startled shout he falls into the darkness. Somehow the half-elf manages to keep his wits enough to break his fall a little as he hits the rocks below with the others.
With a groan, Phillip lays still. His body feeling well tenderized after the fight with the mouther and now this. Testing his arms and legs for damage, a sigh of relief escapes Phillips lips as he finds nothing more serious than scrapes, bruises, and minor cuts. Taking a moment to gather his wits he finally draws a deep breath and summons just a bit of energy to conjure a soft aqua green orb of light. After all, it would be good to see where they landed, although I probably won't like it.
Ref
Bryson-cat's sense of relief from escaping the fire falls away from him the second after the floor does the same. He tries to scratch at the wall to find purchase, but Bryson-cat does not share in a real felines supernal speed and dexterity.
The aqua green light of Phillip's orb reveals a chamber some twenty feet square.
The walls of the room are covered with eroded glyphs and hieroglyphic images depicting what appear to be batlike creatures feasting on humanoids.
The eastern wall beyond a low archway in the room consists of a strangely out of place sheet of iron.
You realize that the sheet of iron must be the product of a Wall of Iron spell.
You are lying on a small pile of scree from where you fell through the ceiling. Looking up, you see that the opening to the shaft you fell down is blocked by rubble.
With amazing agility for on of his size, Ghirrak twists and turns as he falls, minimizing the damage as he slams down on one knee.
Rising slowly, Ghirrak scans the area taking in their options for what to do next.
Perception (automatic)
Spellcraft
Closer inspection of the wall of iron reveals a startling lack of rust. With the air as humid as it is, it's been here less than two weeks. Tapping it reveals it isn't as thick as you feared; a focused battering with a large rock or dwarf might be able to penetrate it.
"No, I definitely don't like that at all." Mutters Phillip as he examines the hieroglyphics for the first time. Nodding toward the Professor he says, "Can you make out what those images mean Professor? Besides the fact that people like us used to be the main course for whatever those bat things are?"
While the professor gathers himself, Phillip moves to the far end of the room nearer the iron wall. Kneeling down he frowns and run his hands slowly along the structure. "Hmmm, this looks to me like the work of a Wall of Iron spell, not natural construction." He says to the others.
Pricking his finger, he draws a drop or two of blood and then rubs it over his eyelids while quietly chanting a phrase under his breath. A couple of heartbeats later his eyes have a dim aqua glow that matches the globe of light bobbing above his head. [b]"Might be wise to check for other magic."
"Ooof!" Annie landed poorly on one arm and blinked tears out of her eyes as she struggled to sit up. She could fight if she had to, but as Phillip's light allows her to scan the room for danger, she can't help but breathe out thanks to Cayden Cailean that it doesn't appear she has to at this very moment. "Oooh," she whispered, "my bumps have bruises. Wait just a moment, I sure don't find myself wishful to move much feeling like this." Annie grasped her holy symbol with one hand and closed her eyes for a moment, murmuring a prayer to Cayden Cailean, while her other unconsciously sought out the comfort of Bryson's furred shoulder. Perhaps distracted by the pain, her first prayer doesn't produce much result, and she took a deep breath and tried again.
Annie stood up and joined the rest of the party in looking around at the strange room before them.
"Well, it looks like we can get out,eventually. That's good, I suppose. I don't look forward to the digging, though." As Phillip mentions that the strange iron wall was put there by magic, she frowns. "That's worrisome. Was it put there to keep something nasty out of this room? Or to keep things in?"
Professor Forol adjusts his spectacles as he eagerly inspects the heiroglyphs.
"Hmm, mmm, mhmmm, yes of course."
He steps back.
"This is an astounding find! These heiroglyphs predate the formation of the Olman Empire itself! They refer to some ancient tribes being hunted by "bat-demons" by night, some heroes going out and killing them, being killed in turn, then later a king called "Six Paws" begins offerin up political enemies as tribute. But the glyphs continue beyond the iron wall. We have to get through!"
He goes to the iron wall and begins tapping at it, perhaps looking for a weak point.
You sense the faint remnants of Conjuration magic from the Iron Wall, and... that scorch mark. Some kind of Evocation as well? You just can't tell. More than a couple days old at least, no more than a month.
"Well this iron wall is certainly magical." Phillip says as examines the wall and rest of the room. Noticing the scorch marks for the first time, he steps over and looks them over carefully.
"Hrmmm. This was likely created by an evocation of some kind. But more interesting is the fact that it is only a few days old. Maybe a month at the longest."
Turning to the professor he gives the man an inquiring look. "Professor Forol, do you know of any other expeditions or treasure hunters who had set out for this place recently? It seems we may be following in someones fairly recent footsteps."
Annie looked worried. "Some sort of attack magic? And it came from this side? But there's no one here now. Was there another fire trap in this room?" She looked down at Bryson. "Can you see any other signs of people that were here?" She looked around herself, knowing her eyes were less keen than Bryson's and unlikely to see something he didn't.
Perception Scent
Bryson-cat takes a 'look' around for any sign of the combatants.
You all look around but cannot find any other sign of the combatants. Certainly they aren't here now.
Professor Forol eagerly studies the pictograms along the walls.
"Hmm. Mmmm. Yes. Fascinating! It seems like these bat winged demon-things preyed on the early inhabitants; up until a leader of some kind began to sacrifice... political enemies I think. Sadly all to common in those days." He stops at the wall of Iron and snorts in disgust.
"Naturally the pictograms continue past the wall of iron."
Inspecting the wall of iron, he peers at it, then tap-tap-taps at it as he walks along it.
Looking at Dgrim, he tells him; "You might wish to step back. Dust of Rust Monster." With that, he takes a small reddish glass bottle from his case and taps a tiny amount of dust onto the low middle of the wall of iron. He jumps back as the area he poured it on seems to bubble and flake with rust.
Professor Forol eyes it with satisfaction.
"There. That is the weak spot. All we need now is sufficient force and we'll punch right through."
Ghirrak strides up to the weak point taking a deep breath, he focuses his energy and unleashes a blurring combination of devastating blows to the rusted area.
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Confirmation