[Dice=Attack of Opportunity, Morning star]1d20+6
[dice=Damage]1d6 [dice=Save]1d20+3
Justified destroys the remaining mummy. Each mummy has a gold necklace (500gp each).
Revising the secret room: This chamber is a small crypt dominated by a large stone sarcophagus. Both the walls of the room and the sarcophagus itself are covered in decorative patterns and carvings of animals. The top of the sarcophagus depicts a man dressed in robes, wearing a feathered headdress, and clutching a blue rod in one hand and a ceremonial dagger in the other.
Graythan finishes reloading his crossbow with a grunt, his baleful gaze resting on one of the downed mummies. "Everyone ok? That was rough."
Krila sighs, and begins looking over the sarchophagus, to see if she recognizes it or anything about it. It's probably younger than she is though.
The sarcophagus depicts a Olmec shaman, most likely the priest that blessed this passage upon its completion. Traditionally this was done by burying the holy man alive. Krilla also finds that it is trapped.
Krila looks it over, and then nods. "Olmec. Notice the wings, and the runes. Looks like a blessing sarcophagus. That makes this place Olmec, they wouldn't do this for someone else, given they had to bury a holy man alive. A willing one." She looks at the destroyed mummies. "Not a really important holy man, given only three guards. Unless there were more that were destroyed over the years. There might be something in the sarcophagus worth looting, if you don't mind grave robbing." She shrugs. "Up to you of course. I'm neither for nor against it. My own religious leanings are toward the living being more important than the dead, especially dead who were stupid enough to kill themselves as part of a ritual. I would disable that trap thought before opening it, unless you want to join the mummies."
Graythan watches from beyond the secret door, looking in on his companions and the hidden chamber. He gestures toward the sarcophagus and shoots Moira a look, inviting her to ply her expertise.
Moira snaps out of the paralyzing trance she was in. "Oh my. I wanted to engage. My mind was saying one thing but my body could not respond."
Moira looks at the loot that Justified discovered. "Hell yeah let's loot the place. Dead people can't use the booty....we sure can."
Moira removes her tools and begins to look for traps around and on the sarcophagus. "Please stand back those of you who are not involved. I do make mistakes."
After fiddling with the mechanism for a bit, Moira manages to disable the trap. Opening up the sarcophagus reveals a skeletal corpse.The long dead shaman holds a blue stone rod in one hand and a masterwork silver dagger in the other. Around his neck is a golden medallion inset with a shining pink pearl.
Detect Magic
"Oh mmyyyy!!!!" Moira lets out as she sees the shiny objects.
Grabbing the loot, you move to the double doors to the south. Beyond them is another room, with a pair of doors opposite your entrance. Two gigantic iron doors stand closed to the south in this small chamb er, decorated with symbols of water and sealife in tarnished copper. Opposite them are a pair of pedestals, each with a peculiar notch cut into the side. One of these pedestals is made from a dusky red granite, while the other is crafted of light blue marble,
"The necklace is magic, probably a Pearl of Power, intermediate power level. The rest is gaudy stuff."
Detect magic
"Looks like the Olmecs were fond of riddles. I'm guessing the right sequence opens the doors, and the wrong one will see us greeted with another wave of shambling undead." He glances to the strange, notched pillars then back to the group. "Or some other equally unpleasant consequence."
Krila begins to slowly and carefully examine the room, keeping her detect magic up as she does so.
Krilla survey finds that the mechanism is completely mechanical. The blue rod slots into the blue pillar and allows the pedestal to be rotated. It revolves several times before locking into place. You appear to be missing the red rod.
Krila rubs her chin. "We need a red rod. Give me a moment to backtrack, we may have already passed it." Krila takes a moment to search through the previous rooms, looking for red rods, now that she knows one is important.
After much search and some avoiding of the black puddings, you find the red rod way back at the entrance of the area covered in slime at the bottom of the fetid fountain.
Rod in hand you return to the exit and activate the mechanism. The doors open with a screech of protest, flooding the chamber with fresh salt air from the world outside. Beyond the doors is a broad set of seaweed-choked stairs that leads down to a small beach. At high tide the water must reach right up to the doors themselves, but now the water is low enough to allow for easy passage.
The other survivors are exactic to be out of the dark dank passage and rush out into the fresh air. Avner's stupid horse stumbles down the stairs and almost breaks a leg, but (un)fortunately, it keeps its footing. The land beside the beach rises up away from the water, eventually forming a winding cliffside path roughly 80 feet above . Although the ramp is relatively steep, Thunderstrike and the rest of the party can easily traverse it.
"We don't know how fast the tide comes in, we can either camp at the top of the stairs and confirm, or we can start out up the ramp. It would be bad to find out it comes in rapidly in a 10 minute window, if we're 15 minutes from the top of the stairs and from the top of the ramp." She turns to the sailors. "Well? Do we need worry about the tide coming in so rapidly we can't make it across the beach and up the ramp? Or should we go back up the stairs and camp?" She looks over the beach. "We should also beware of anything that might live here that is used to eating things that get washed up."
As the others discuss the virtues and risks of waiting for the tide or pressing on, Greythan's eyes remain fixed on the horizon, his companion's words fading to a dull hum in his ears. He breaths slowly and deeply, inhaling through his nose then exhaling quietly through his mouth.
He'd hated the salted air after a week aboard the Sea Wyvern. Now, though, the dour bountyhunter found it to be a refreshing relief.
Leaving his companions to their ongoing discussion of the tides, Graythan turns back to the others they'd been leading. "Captain? Urol? How are you both faring?" He moves on next to Avner, but simply offers a nod as he visually confirms the man's wellbeing.
Everyone is in much higher spirits now that they are in the open air. The dangers of the tunnel had everyone quite shaken, though Urol's fascination with the monsters manages to mask most of his fear. In general, the inquisitive gnomes constant exciting chatter is starting to wear on everyone's nerves a little bit. The Captain especially has soured towards the gnome.
Urol pulls out his hand drawn map and, after making some measurements with his fingers. estimates that it should take the group roughly 6 days to traverse the beaches and cliffs south. Assuming of course, that this ancient road follows that direction. If it doesn't, he adds, you'll need to double or triple that estimate.
Not wanting to wast the daylight you continue along the path until dusk begins to fall.
|
Justified, enjoying the sunshine on his face and the moving air on his body lengthens his stride and encourage everyone to keep up. Perhaps we can make it in 5 He says good naturedly.
But as the group begins to march his face darkens a little and he notes quietly to the group. Whatever it was that followed us before we went underground, they are back. I can feel them. Even closer than before. We did not loose them with our short cut.
Krila nods. "Dear heart, can you scan around and see if there are any spirits or astral forms following or watching us?' She says to the air, in response to Justified's comment.
She turns the other direction. "My new friend, if you could check the shadows as well?" She asks the other spirit, asking it to check the shadow plane if it can.
Krila nods. "Dear heart, can you scan around and see if there are any spirits or astral forms following or watching us?' She says to the air, in response to Justified's comment.
She turns the other direction. "My new friend, if you could check the shadows as well?" She asks the other spirit, asking it to check the shadow plane if it can.
The party carries on along the ancient roadway for the rest of the day. As you go along, you find several places where sections of walkway have been repaired or reinforced with wooden supports where erosion has washed away the stone. The supports are quite weathered, but are still much newer than the original construction. Urol is much intrigued by these and natters on about the island natives each time you find repairs.
Tavey is just excited to be out of the caves and has to be constantly reminded not to run ahead. Avner spends most of his attention trying to keep his horse moving in the right direction. If anything, the massive is more spooked now, than it was while travelling underground.
Eventually, the light starts to fade and thought turn towards camping for the night.
Krila taps Justified on the shoulder. "Not to be a wet blanket sweetie, but shouldn't we camp over there in the tree fall, with the three defensible sides? Plus if we put the sail up on top of it we can keep out of the rain if it decides to rain tonight. And it'll keep our fire hidden except out to sea?" She points to a treefall about a quarter mile farther on. Her voice is gentle, knowing Justified has had a long day and just missed it from exhaustion.
Krila takes whatever watch she needs to, she can see fine no matter what, and her spells renew whether she has uninterrupted sleep or not.
She does wake her familiar up from it's daytime naps, and sets it to watch. Being nocturnal, it has no issue staying up all night.
Graythan nods silently, approving of Krila's selection for a camp site. He helps Tavey pitch a simple tent with some rope and a tarp, and pats the former cabin boy on the shoulder as he turns back to the group and the fire they've got going already. "I'll take final watch. And maybe this time we won't have a flock of razor-beaked avians storm the camp." His eerie blue eyes glitter briefly in the orange glow of the firelight but the off-putting light and the beginnings of a half-grin vanish in a blink as he turns to hurry over to Avner to help him calm his horse.
Moira speaks up. "Ahhh....what about those blobby things we left behind. You guys worried about those things." One can see that the ordeal with the blobs and mummies has shaken her spirit.
"They weren't clever enough to follow us over to the other bridge even, Moira. We're safe from them here. Plenty else to be on guard for though, so stay sharp."
The night passes slowly. It feels somewhat different than those that you spent on the other side of the pass. It takes a while to figure it out, but in the end you realize what it is: the night is unnaturally quiet. The usual jungle noises are absent. Still the night passes without incident.
The next morning, as you break camp, Tavey gives a shout from around the next bend in the path. Going to investigate, you find a dozen bird carcasses. Each bird is tied, wings outstretched and head to the ground, on an wooden X-shaped frame.
Graythan regards the bird carcasses stoically for a few moments before offering dryly, "I don't think we're welcome."
Urol is fascinated of course, but more so by the opportunity to study so many avian specimens at once. Captain Venkalie smacks one out of his hand and tells him to finish breaking camp, so the party can get moving. The little gnome's face darkens with anger, before he regains his composure. He stuffs a couple of birds in his coat and helps with the chores.
"Let's be especially wary from this point forward. I know you're excited for so many dead birds to study, Urol, but I'm betting those effigies were meant to turn us around. Pressing forward is only going to make whoever's been watching us more upset." He then turns to Avner, dark concern clouding his face. "And you may want to lead Thunderstrike by foot, Avner. Riding will leave you elevated and make you a target."
"Be careful with them as well, they could have disease or parasites on them." The shaman warns, mainly Urol. Most curses are usually just disease and fleas or other parasites, in her experience.
Moira approaches her companions. "Hey guys.... I think I should lead us through the path with the big guy. I can check for traps while we move."
"I'll take the middle then, to be as close as possible to everyone." Today, her eyes seem to twinkle and sparkle, and those around her have their skin crawl as if some creature from beyond had appeared before them.
A little unnerved, you press onward. As you continue, more signs of civilization present themselves, a few abandoned huts on a stretch of sand here, a wrecked canoe there. Upon further investigation, these always appear long abandoned and heavily weathered.
More ornamentation along the path also shows itself, with intricate Olman carvings rising out of stone outcropping along the way.
Rolling for 20s:
In one place, several of these statues appear to tbe more than they seem and come to life, swooping down upon you:
Combat
21 Krila
20 Moira
15 Graythan
12 Gargoyles
6 Justified
Krila steps back and begins calling down lightning from the sky.
"Well now everyone, watch your eyes, I believe it's going to storm..."