Marius attacks the foul scorpion with his mace held high.
of course, Bandit attacks anything attacking Hadjii -- monstrous or not!
.
or, maybe not...
.
at least that might save!
You id the creature as a ghost scorpion..
Marius bashes the vermin a good one, but it's still upp
The hieroglyphs on the walls are Ancient Osiriani and with the engravings, they describe the life of the tomb’s enshrined occupant, Akhentepi, a celebrated military commander who presided over the troops garrisoned in Wati prior to the city’s downfall. The hieroglyphs warn, “Akhentepi’s tomb is well defended, and those who defile it tempt the wrath of the gods.” An additional warning advises, “The only thing the Lady of Graves despises more than the grave robber is the unsuccessful grave robber,” followed by a final admonishment to “turn back while you can.”
You think you would be in trouble if this wasn't a sanctioned thing..
Hemket will attempt to poke the scorpion off his back with his rapier.
Calla was calmly copying the inscription on the wheel to her Journal, when a freaking ghost appeared! She saw the translucent creature and assumed it was one, at least, so her right hand dropped the pen and three of her fingers pointed at the creature, sending for each one colored ray, that intertwined and mixed until they became white and hit the creature, but to no effect!
"Oh gods!" She realized a second too late that, if the scorpion was a ghost, it wouldn't need to burrow to get to them. So she hoped the creature could not hurt them more, while she fixed her mistake.
Rajik yells and swings.
.
Hadjii cringes as the seemingly crazed Suli grotesquely splatters the thing's last hit point, sweeping it off his backpack and into oblivion! He immediately moves to calm Bandit, assuring the animal that Rajik was not wailing his weapon at Hadjii himself (it may have looked that way)...
"I am thanking you all very much! These things, they are known to be having a poison in their stingers -- but I am feeling OK, thankfully: perhaps it was failing to fully inject before you so gracefully killed it!"
Hadjii will examine what's left of the scorpion, with an eye towards possibly harvesting the stinger's dual poison sacks for sale:
Not surprisingly, the critter is smashed pretty badly...
"Perhaps you will have greater fortune than I with recovering the poison glands, Master Marius.'
Hadjii hands the remains to the cleric.
"I believe my wound to be quite minor, but if you could please to ensure I am nearby next time you channel, Master Marius, I would muchly appreciate it!"
Calla takes her pen off the sand and swiftly moves inside the building, to prevent more of those from showing up.
Hemket stabs the poor scorpion, wounding it badly, just before it's turned to mince meat by the raging Rajik.. Blood and guts cover Hadjii and what little remains is not salvagable..
After the devious attack by the scorpion you all turn around to see the stone door has completely opened revealing another room..
This square room is starkly devoid of any markings or adornment. In the center of the chamber’s floor, a square shaft drops straight down into darkness. A faint musty odor rises from the pit. A single piton has been hammered into the stone floor by the northeast corner of the pit, and a dusty length of rope dangles from the piton into the darkness of the shaft.
Upon closer inspection the pit drops down roughly 60' to a dark room below.. The piece of rope only extends 5' into the pit before its abruptly been cut..
Hemket will take a look to make sure the obvious isn't the only issue.
"Wait and let me check this out. "
Hemket notices nothing out of the ordinary, except a cut rope..
While Hemket is busy with that, Calla will worry with the stone door and the possibility of getting out of there if someone decides to play a prank on them. The thought is unsettling, and eventually comes out of her mind. "So, what if someone decides to... say... lock us in this tomb? I mean, this is indeed a tomb, and there's basically four barriers we would have to cross if it comes to that.... Are you sure you want to go down there??"
"Of course there is danger down there, and up here, but this is what we signed up for."
Rajik ties his rope to the piton after removing the old rope. He tugs at it to make sure the piton holds.
"Everyone else follow me. I want to make sure the bottom is clear."
Upon reaching the bottom you see..
Mirrored images of a warrior in side profile, facing inward, are carved on an ornate pair of stone doors in the west wall of this square room. The figure is depicted wearing padded armor, with a scarab-shaped shield on the arm facing the viewer, and a raised khopesh held aloft in the other. A crumpled humanoid body lies directly in front of the doors. A hint of decay hangs in the air, and a dried stain mars the stone floor under the body.
The carvings on the doors depict Akhentepi as a younger man.
I'll check the body.
"Hmm, I was of the understanding that we were the first to be allowed into this tomb. Something appears to be amiss. "
"Hmmm... He was certainly killed by a defense mechanism of some kind..."
It does indeed appear that sometime in the last few decades someone attempted to rob the place, unsuccessfully..
A quick search of the body reveals a pair of broken legs and subsequent death.. Most of the gear that it was carrying has long ago become useless, but there are a pair of pitons and a usable hammer still there, as well as a couple of vials containing a redish liquid.. They appear to be alcheimist flasks..
Calla your detect magic doesn't hit anything in this room..
There's a pair of double doors leading out of the room..
Marius nods to Hadjii.
"I shall see what I can do with the body, and I will make sure to heal you if you feel it is needed."
Marius takes some time to examine the room for traps since they aren't in any hurry right now.
Calla lights a torch, and along with her dancing lights provide a reliable, tough limited, source of light.
The double doors leading from the place do not seemed to be trap, or locked.. It takes a good push from Rajik, but they finally open up and you all see..
The walls of this ten-foot-wide corridor feature bas-relief carvings of great battles. Armies with spears and shields clash at the direction of generals, while other leaders direct troops from chariots that are ruthlessly overrunning their enemies. Engraved stone double doors stand at the other end of the hallway.
The engravings on the insides of both sets of doors resemble Akhentepi excpet that he is depicted as an older man riding in a chariot. He carries the same scarab shield, but his other arm points at his own reflected depiction on the opposite door.
"Wonder why these 2 are pointing at each other?"
Hemket will take his time looking at the doors for traps assisting the cleric. Not like we're under time pressure.
perception 24 to assist
The group moves cautiously into the room, searching for hidden dangers as they go and just when they think its all clear there's something that doesn't look quite right abouth the 5x10 square in front of the weatern door.. Examining it more closely you find its a pressure plate trap that will most likely shoot stuff down the hall yall are standing in..
"Ok, let me see if I can figure out how to disarm that. "
"I hate taking this long, but I would rather not get hit by something deadly."
Hemket pulls out his tools and goes to work on the trap and after several tense seconds he hears the click of success as he disarms the trap..
You find that the door is unlocked, again takes a heft from Rajik to open.. Beyond yall see..
A faded tapestry hangs on a wooden frame on the western wall of this chamber. Faded and delicate, the tapestry depicts a middle-aged man Akhentepi accompanied by a woman and two children, with a small estate in the background. To either side of the tapestry are two small pedestals, upon which sit two dead and preserved animals. Stone double doors exit the chamber to the north and south..
"Don't worry Rajik we have all day to explore this tomb, and if we rush we will simply take up more time with healing than anything."
Before entering the room Marius will once again look for traps before he even begins to examine the rest of the rooms history.
"We actually have the whole week, or more. We can use the time we need." Calla stops while the folks look for traps and makes some notes on her journal. She takes an interested look on the animals, wondering what's that about. "Do you think these were his pets?"
Like moving on ice the group slowly creeps into the room, checking everywhere for potetial nasties.. After a few minutes though everyone is convinced there's no traps afoot..
Calla you notice several heiroglyphics on the tapestry and easily makes sense of them.. They tell a sad story of Akhentepi's wife and both his daughters befalling some tragedy, possibly murder or sickness, afterwhich he was left widowed..
As Calla is telling the story something clicks for Hemket and he devises that the family is probably interred somewhere else and that this tomb was prepared much later, after Akhentepi’s continued successful military career.
The animals on the pedestal's are indeed mummified cats..
Hemket will lead north.
North it is!
As you move up the doors open easily revealing a short descend of stairs before yet another set of doors are located.. Opening the next set of door reveals..
A brightly painted chariot sits in the center of this chamber. Beyond the chariot, a large canvas stretches between two stone columns. The skins of several animals—antelopes, great cats, and crocodiles—now faded and deteriorated with age, are tacked to this canvas. A wooden chest, lacquered white and trimmed with gold inlay, sits in the southeast corner. In each corner of the room a small stone shield is molded into the masonry at shoulder height. An open hallway leads to the east.
"Never trust an easy chest..."
Take our time to examine the chest (so take 20, and assist the cleric).
Calla examines the chest and figures it must be worth at least 175gps undamaged.. She also figures the chariot could be worth 125gps if yall could somehow get it out of here..
After examining it throughly you can tell the chest is indeed traped..
He will work his wonders on the trap.
Calla sends her balls of light to illuminate the hallway to the east, and leave them there for now, since there's a torch in her hands. She scans the room for magic and then starts to pay attention to the history engraved at every corner.
"This would indeed have been an interesting site after the death of the man, but now there's not enough background story to understand it all. I mean, what do those cats represent? Could it be their daughters? Or just some pets the man had?"
She keeps on taking notes on her journal, trying to put together the pieces. "And what would this chariot represent in his lifetime?"
And again he pleased to hear a nice disabling click..
The contents of the chest are..
3 bottles that contain liquid..
2 books with thin, gold-plated metal sheets for pages. They are written in ancient osiriani and would take a while to figure out what they say..
Calla wants the books to examine later ^_^
Calla you figure the books could be worth quite abit to a collector.. Its hard to put a real number on it, but several 100gps at the least.. They weigh 25lbs a piece btw..
You've all heard stories of rich, powerful folk being buried with their life's treasures, pets, and even slaves.. The latter were usually killed and sent with their master to serve them in the afterlife..
Call wants the books to examine later but can't carry them due to the weight ^_^
Hadjii finally catches up, having spent all this time fussing with Bandit to get him down in a harness.
He can assist with Disable Device:
+2 for Hemket!
For info only Hemket but when you disable the trap you figure out failing would have activated a blade attack on you.. A posion blade attack at that and the trap is able to be reset..
Assumming there will be investigation of the potions?
"If we put the books in the chariot, we might fit it through the doors to the bottom of the pit. Then we can figure a way to lift them to the top."