Ankhet continues on her circuit around the room and smiles an awe. "This chamber was once used to prepare the dead for internment. After being blessed by priests, the deceased would have been brought here," she points at the altar, "Mummified and purified. Then they would have been carried from this chamber to their respective resting places before the tomb was sealed. The altar is dedicated to the Ancient Osiriani god Anubis, a jackal-headed god of embalmers and death. He is also the guardian of tombs."
Ankhet smiles. "Fascinating."
She pulls out her notebook and writing supplies and begins to make drawings and rubbings of the altar and the room. When she's done she puts her writing supplies away. She leaves the room and approaches the doors to the next area.
"The doors look safe. Lead the way, Uncle Usathis."
"This is boring! Hurry up! Let's go!" Bunursa bounces in place. "Let's go! Let's go! Let's GO! GO! GO!"
Usathis opens the doors and looks around...
Kembe also looks around and sniffs.
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A flight of steps gradually descends to the west down this passage. Halfway down the stairs, small holes and burrowed tunnels riddle what remains of the passage's southern wall. Earth and sand have spilled over the collapsed masonry, covering the stairs with dirt and rubble. Stone doors engraved with a golden scarab, its wings open beneath a golden sun, stand at the far end of the hall.
Amid the sand and broken rubble strewn about the stairwell, Ankhet and Bunursa notice that some of the sand seems to shift slightly, as if it were flowing slowly, or were unstable.
Ankhet frowns.
"Careful guys, it looks unstable."
"Wait... I don't..." Ankhet's frown deepens. "The walls have collapsed, of course, but see that sand there. It's shifting. I thought it might be unstable, but it's not. It's just... moving. Maybe there's bugs or a snake under the sand there or something? I don't know. Animals aren't really my thing."
Usathis holds his blades ready and slowly moves forward... He's ready to attack anything that pops out of the sand at him!
...If he gets all the way there without getting attacked he stabs his sword into the sand!
Kembe teleports to the other side.
"Hey... I don't think that's an animal under there. I can't tell what it is, though. If it looks cute, don't stab it!"
Bunursa waits to see if Usathis gets eaten.
Ava quivers in fear. "Be careful!" she squeaks. She hides behind a pillar and overs her eyes with her fluffy paws.
Bunursa looks at Talonflame. "Protect Ava!"
"CAW!"
He flies over to Ava and circles her protectively.
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As Usathis approaches and Bunursa mentions that's the sand is not an animal, the sand gives a sudden shudder and begins to rise!
But Usathis is ready for it! He stabs his longsword down into the sand, causing it to let out a shriek. As the sand howls in pain and flails around it takes the shape of a massive snake made of sand!
Usathis can tell that his creature is resistant to his slashing sword! Maybe another type of damage will hurt it more!
COMBAT TRACKER - Round 1 - Bold may act!
Ava
Usathis
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ONGOING EFFECTS / ENVIRONMENT
PENDING
Ava Usathis
Ava shrieks in fear! "AAAAAHHHH!" She runs around in a circle in a panic!
Usathis' eyes widen. He attacks with all of is weapons!
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Usathis drags his sword across the side of the sand monster, but barely hurts it at all! He misses with his pick and spiked shield, but smashes into it with his mace. Sand and hunks of a weird earthy substance go flying across the room! The sand snake shudders, then crumples to a pile on the floor...
Whatever the beast was, it's dead.
Ankhet looks around in shock for a while, breathing heavily.
"I was a little worried, there! Are you alright Uncle Usathis?"
Ankhet looks around. "The room looks safe now." She heads inside, climbs over the rocky rubble and sand on the stairs, and approaches the doors.
"The doors aren't dangerous. You're free to open the door when you're ready."
Bunursa claps her hands. "Yes!" Then she looks around. "Where's all the treasure?!?"
Ava hops onto Talonflames back. "That was so scary!"
Talonflame flies with Ava on his back. He follows Bunursa.
"Yes. I am fine." Usathis says to Ankhet.
Usathis picks up Ava and helps her onto Talonflame's back. He pats her on the head. "You are safe."
He looks at Bunursa. "They may not be treasure left in this room. But, I will help you look."
When he is done looking, Usathia opens the door and looks inside.
When the door is opened, Kembe looks inside the next room.
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Talonflame finds it very hard to fly with Ava on his back, but he manages to stay aloft for now.
No one finds any treasure in this room.
As Usathis pushes open the door, the group looks inside the next room.Another large tapestry hangs from a frame against the south wall of this big room. Columns sculpted in the shape of Osirian warriors wielding khopeshes stand in all four corners of the room. The floor is tiled in a white spiral pattern on a black background, and this spiral pattern is repeated on the stone double doors to the north, west, (and the east, which is the doorway you're in right now).
The tapestry looks in surprisingly good condition and shows an otherworldly vista where the souls of the dead, shepherded by strange beings, enter an ethereal river. The souls and the river travel through space toward a landscape dominatedy an impossibly tall spire.
Ankhet determines that there are no traps in the room, but that the doors are locked.
"That spiral is the holy symbol of Pharasma, goddess of life, death, and fate."
Ankhet heads into the chamber and helps Bunursa look around for anything of value.
She looks at the doors. "It will only take me a moment to unlock them. Would we like to go west or north first? Or should I unlock all the doors now?"
Bunursa hurries into the room and collects the tapestry. She hauls it out to the treasure pile. Then she points at the wall sconces. "Get those down for me Ankhet!"
When Ankhet gets them down Bunursa carries them to the treasure pile.
Then she looks around for more loot.
Bunursa looks at the two locked doors. "You should unlock them both, Ankhet. But lets go in the west door first."
"Be careful, everyone. Those pillars make me nervous. They could be monsters."
Usathis keeps guard while the others look for treasure.
"Open the west door first. We will start there."
Kembe keeps guard over the others. As soon as Ankhet opens the door he teleports as far into the next chamber as he can.
Ankhet unlocks both the doors, then gets to work pulling down the wall sconces.
When everyone is ready, Ankhet opens the western doors and looks inside the next chamber for traps.
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Beyond the stone door is a short hallway which narrows sharply to the west, descending to set of stairs that abruptly ends at a rough rock wall.
Kembe immediately teleport through the room to the base of the dead-end stairs. He gives a sniff at the air. He can tell that there are very narrow passages that have been dug through the wall. Down them he can faintly smell more vermin. He does not think he can travel down the narrow tunnels, nor could Ankhet and Usathis. Bunursa might be able to, although it is very tight and she might get stuck. Talonflame could walk through the passage, but not fly. Ava could also fit, although she's probably too scared to go down the tunnel alone.
Ankhet notices that the finished northern wall hides the seams of a secret door. Unfortunately, the door is not meant to be opened from this side. It has no handles, levers, hinges, or locks accessible anywhere that she can see.
Ankhet crosses her arms. "Huh... There's a secret door here, but it can't open from this side at all. Weird."
After looking around for a moment she adds, "This section of the tomb was never completed. It looks like they were planning to continue construction and enlarge the tomb, but stopped partway through the expansion process."
Bunursa looks around. "BORING! No treasure at all!" she looks at the next doors. "Next room!"
Talonflame slowly flies after her. He is not used to flying with a rabbit on his back!
Ava hangs on as best as she can with her fuzzy paws. "Eeek!"
She covers her eyes with her ears.
Kembe sniffs the air. "We cannot go through here," he growls.
Usathis nods, trusting Kembe's opinion. He heads over to the next doors and opens them.
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Opening the door reveals a set of stairs that leads down, deeper underground. At the bottom of the stairs are a another pair of double doors, each marked with images of Ahkentepi in his old age. Ankhet quickly checks the doors for traps and finds there are none. She gives the go ahead and the group opens the next doors, which lead to a massive octagonal chamber.
In the centre of the room is a raised square platform a half foot 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 on the far side, and four more jackal-head torch holders decorate the walls.
Ankhet looks around the room in shock.
"I... I think we've found Ahkentepi's burial chamber!" She smiles, moves forward, then stops. "Wait! If this is his burial chamber, if could be trapped. The Ancient Osiriani people liked to protect their dead from thieves. Let me go first and look for traps. It's a big room, so it might take a while."
Ankhet checks the entrance for traps...
Then she circles around the room, staying away from the platform for now, and cautiously looking for traps...
If nothing has happened yet she examines the far doors...
Then finishes her circle of the room...
If she still hasn't found anything she checks the stairs leading up to the platform, then the statues and pillars, and finally the platform and the sarcophagus. If she hasn't found anything by the she'll be AMAZED!
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Ankhet believes that the front entrance is safe to step in and trap free. She enters and nothing happens. Seems good so far!
Ankhet notices a pressure plate on the floor against the western wall, as well as a secret door in that wall. She can go around the plate and continue her circuit of the room. On the far wall she believes that the doors are not trapped and are totally safe. She discovers a second set of secret doors against the eastern wall, which don't seem to be trapped.
She thinks that the stairs leading to the platform are safe, as are the statues, but that the pillars are part of some kind of complicated trap, and so it the platform. Because the platform is part of a trap she cannot get close enough to examines the sarcophagus for traps yet. She'll need to deactivate the platform's trap first.
Ankhet tells everyone what she discovered. Then she pulls out her tools and tries to disable the first pressure plate. She thinks she did a great job!
She leaves all the secret doors alone for now, but tries to disable the trap on the pillars and the platform.
"Alright... I think I've got everything handled. What should we look at first? The secret doors? Or should I try stepping on the pressure plate or platform?"
Usathis carefully steps on the pressure plate to test if its safe for everyone else yet.
If nothing bad happens he steps on the platform and touches a pillar.
Kembe sniffs around for trouble.
Bunursa points at the torch holders. "Take these down, Ankhet!" Then she goes around the platform and drags the statues off, down the hall, up the sandy stairs, around the corners, and all the way back to her treasure pile. The she goes back and does it again for the second statue. Then she collects the torch holders and brings them to the treasure.
By the time its done she's very tried!
"Done taking the treasure! Is the sarcophagus safe yet?"
Talonflame follows Bunursa with a loud CAW!
Ava shrieks in a panic. "I AM SCARED!"
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Despite Ankhet's best effort, when Usathis steps on the pressure plate it sinks into the ground about an inch. There's a loud BAM! as the doors slam shut, and then a sliding sound coming from inside the doors, as if they had all been shut and barred.
Usathis, Kembe, and Ankhet are all inside the chamber when this happens, but Bunursa, Ava, and Talonflame are outside, on their way to the treasure pile with their statue.
There's a crackling sound from the pillars, but nothing happens. Ankhet managed to disable whatever trap was on them.
Usathis hurries over to the door that Bunursa left through and tries to bash it down with his pick.