Hogan grits his teeth as his rocky companion goes down. His grip on his hammer tightens as he brings it down on red.
Seeing Seherab engage the skeleton plaguing them, Dwizzle thrusts his spear in the monster's face, wagging it around in an effort to harry it.
Dwizzle, nonetheless continues to deliver his sermon.
"And lo, Ra-Tor brought upon his enemies a swarm of locusts and bees!"
Dwizzle swings the tip of his spear, punctuating the 'bees' line in the skeletal champion's face with a little flourish.
Hogan crushes the non-blinded skeletal warrior with one more strike, smashing the bones into a shattered heap of calcium and collagen, while Ankhef moves to heal Balboa.
Ankhef's hawk swoops in to strike the far warrior but its talon strikes uselessly against the bone, but Seherab is able to crack through the knee of the last warrior, sending it tumbling to the ground, letting to crash under its own weight.
Status
Hogan-Cursed (-4 to all d20 rolls) @ 59/59 HP
Balboa-Unconscious/Prone @ -4/13 HP
Seherab-Blind @ 25/34 HP
Dwizzle @ 46/53 HP
Ankhef @ 31/43 HP
Hogan stows his hammer before dismissing his earthy companion. "You've done well. Rest."
Seherab still stands at the ready with his weapon out, his head whipping around wildly. "Is that it? Are they gone? I still can't see. Can anyone fix me? You'll have to lead me around or send someone to get me a potion or scroll. I can't get too far like this...."
Dwizzle claps his hands together!
"Of course I can fix you right up, Brother Seherab! Get those old dwarven eyes picking out the glint of a gem at twenty paces in no time!"
Dwizzle shifts a bit and clears his throat.
"You'll, uh.. Of course, need to wait until ol' Ra-Tor bestows upon his daily blessings to me... err, uh... tomorrow?"
Dwizzles last word seems to be more of a question than a statement.
Dwizzle heals the group, but Seherab appears to be permanently blinded by the woman's curse. Hogan also feels that his curse is still present, though he doesn't know how long it will last.
Status
Hogan-Cursed (-4 to all d20 rolls) @ 59/59 HP
Balboa @ 4/13 HP
Seherab-Blind @ 33/34 HP
Dwizzle @ 53/53 HP
Ankhef @ 39/43 HP
Dwizzle takes a look at Hogan, who seems to still be grumbling something about "being cursed".
"Hmmm... not sure how long that'll last. But Ra-Tor could fix that up tomorrow too if it doesn't clear soon. Maybe 'Rabby or 'Ank can tell how long it'll last?"
Dwizzle takes a couple steps down the hall and gazes at the stairs.
"Should we finish up here with you blinded, 'Rabby?? Send a runner to the temple to pick up some scrolls while a few of us wait here?"
Dwizzle shrugs then beams with optimism.
"I'm sure there's nothing else dangerous or hostile here!"
"We've nearly explored this place, right? I would hate to waste another night because of my blindness. Let's push on. The Church is waiting for us and we've already spent too long getting to the bottom of this."
Seherab assures his team that they are free to keep moving forward as Dwizzle tries to figure out possible plans to deal with it, so the group moves to the last doorway on this level, checking it for traps before opening it. It appears safe so they open the door and find the Catalogue of Nights.
Dark-stained wooden cabinets and shelves and a prominent mahogany table fill much of this massive library. Like its counterpart to the west, the Catalogue of Nights is meant to invoke the Boneyard’s Catalogue of Last Days. It houses official records of every death within Wati since Nefru Shepses first arrived in 2953 AR, and select records going back much further.
The mahogany table in the center of the room is worth 2,000 GP, but it weighs 400 pounds and is larger than the doorway.
Ankhef nods and checks out the catalogue.
"These records may be quite valuable as well"
Ankhef then backs up to the table, quizzically pokes out the wall, opening a secret compartment causing a scroll to fall out.
"Death ward, could be useful..." Ankhef comments as he examines the scroll.
Seherab sighs as his companions describe the library to him. "What a time to lose my sight. I am sure there is much valuable information to be had here. We must come back later so I can read it all and add to my journal."
From the hall, Dwizzle once again gestures to the stairs.
"So, are we going down there? Isn't it a rule in the Dwarven Adventuring Handbook that the deeper you go, the more evil you find?"
Dwizzle clears his throat.
"Shouldn't we ensure Seherab can at least... see the steps down?"
"Do we have a way to restore his vision, brother?"
Dwizzle scratches his head for a moment before he snaps his fingers!
"Aha! Don't you have a lot of scrolls that Teos purchased for you Ankhef? Perhaps we should dig through all those? Maybe we'll be surprised by how our fellow dwarf prepared us?"
Once Ankhef discovers the scroll, Dwizzle encourages him to read it.
Ankhef will dump out his entire pack, and get help looking through all the scrolls and other sundries.
Eventually finding and using the scroll of remove blindness.
Ankhef heals himself.
Asfter a few miutes pass Ankhef will read the remove curse scroll.
By expending two scrolls, Hogan and Seherab seem to be cleansed of their afflictions, proving Dwizzle valuable contributions as he seems to be the only one to care about what they are carrying.
Dwizzle stands on his toes, continuing to gaze into Ankhef's pack.
"Any sandwiches in there? Or any leftover schwarma?"
Ankhef shakes his head as he reassembles his pack. With of course everything continuing to rearrange itself after he looks away.
"I am feeling better now though. I think we should keep going." Seherab looks longingly at the books that he wishes to read but knows that it is more important to get to the bottom of the mystery. He then leads the way down.
An immaculate chamber tiled in blue ceramic lies at the bottom of a long flight of stairs. Large bronze double doors exit the room to the south. The sturdy stairs carved from the bedrock beneath Wati lead from the Sepulcher’s upper level to the more prestigious lower complex 80 feet below.
Seherab's eyes, only newly healed, are not worked as well as usual.
"Hmm, this is quite nice." Seherab notes as he checks over the door.
"Ok, I think it's safe. Let's go." Seherab pulls out his short sword and waits for Hogan to join him. Then he quietly pulls the doors open.
Hogan draws his mighty hammer and joins Seherab, waiting for him to open the door.
Ankhef nods.
"Long stairs..." Ankhef comments.
"Oooh! Looks fancier down here!"
Dwizzle pauses for a moment, knowing that they'll need to prepare a little better than usual, as fancier doors and mosaics means fancier guardians.
The group descends onto the blue-tiled floor and the feel of the ceramics is nice under the boots of the dwarves.
As the group moves up to the set of doors, they are surprised as four tiles levitate from the floor. Dwizzle moves to investigate the floating tiles as Seherab yells. "Duck!"
Out of nowhere, the four tiles hurtle at the dwarven gathering, each tile targeting one of the members.
Seherab lunges for the floor as the tile flies just past his head, shattering into a hundred tiny slivers. Unluckily for the rest, a tile shatters on Ankhef's chest, sending the slivers into his shoulder and neck, causing him to bleed profusely. Dwizzle, realizing his error too late, catches the tile on the side of the head and bleeds from his scalp and cheek.
Hogan, on the other hand, catches the tile directly across the throat and feels excruciating pain whenever he speaks.
Status
Hogan-Bleed 2 @ 39/59 HP
Aknhef-Bleed 1 @ 33/43 HP
Dwizzle-Bleed 1 @ 43/53 HP
"Holy Ptah!" Seherab shouts in surprise as the tiles start fighting back.
+ 2 unusual stonework
Hogan looks to Seherab for answers while he puts his hammer up to block.
Seherab drops to the ground with his tools out to see if he can stop it before things get worse. [b]"A trap, magical!
Ankhef trusts Hogan to take care of himself for a moment as he moves to cover Seherab and draws the CLW wand.
"Yarrghh..."
Dwizzle wonders what would have possessed him to move to investigate and decides to perhaps reconsider such actions in the future.
"I'm bleeding! Oh, so are you.. and you. Well it seems we're all bleeding!"
Dwizzle quickly applies a burst of holy Ra-Torian radiance to stem the loss before moving as far away as a pair of gnomish pseudo-dwarven legs can carry him.
Seherab sees a small control panel hidden in the floor and pries it open as he sees a few runes etched into the floor. He quickly works to reverse the flow of power coming from the magical efforts and short circuits the power of the trap, causing the floating tiles to plummet and smash against the ground.
Dwizzle sends out a blast of healing to keep everyone from bleeding out while Sehereab works quickly.
Status
Hogan @ 48/59 HP
Aknhef @ 42/43 HP
Dwizzle @ 52/53 HP
Dwizzle, expecting something hostile beyond, reaches out and taps Seherab on the shoulder.
He then gestures at the doors for Hogan to toss open, assuming they are not further trapped.
Ankhef nods, ready to continue.
Hogan will toss open the door.
Seherab picks himself up off the floor and dusts himself off before putting his tools away carefully. He then picks up his sword again and rejoins Hogan at the door. "Sorry," he says meekly, "I usually catch those things. Guess I was in a bit of a hurry."
A fifteen-foot-tall statue of a matronly woman with long, flowing hair stands in the center of this chamber between two large stone tables. Ten curtained alcoves break up the hieroglyph-covered walls. Enormous bronze doors stand to the north and south.
Those who descended to the lowest level of the Sepulcher of the Servant were likely to remain for several days or weeks in communion with the Lady of Graves or engaged with mummification and interment rituals. This chamber provided a communal space for socializing, taking meals, and worship. The statue in the center of the room depicts Pharasma, with a dagger in one hand and a sprig of kheper-wer—a medicinal herb used in childbirth—in the other. Seven of the curtained alcoves are small chapels, but three of them lead to other chambers.
The massive double doors to the south are locked, and have an arcane lock on them (CL 8th; hardness 9, hp 60, break DC 38, Disable Device DC 40).
Ankhef examines the door
"Seherab, do you think you can open deal with the magical lock?"
Dwizzle takes a look, nervously recognizing some of the things in the chamber.
"That's... kheper-wer... used in childbirth. You don't think there'll be like, err.. childmummies, or mumchildren beyond one of those doors, do you?"
Seherab shakes his head at Ankhef's question. "It's a bit too complicated for me, I think. I have no idea what could be behind them but let's check everything else first."
Ankhef nods "Sounds good, Hogan would you care to do the honors?"