The words soar through the air, but you listen long enough, and the words arc back, and become more solid to you. "Hopeless... sacrilege... enemies..." They repeat every so often, and become more concrete words to you.
Tynan tilts his head as he listens to the voices, making out part of what they are saying.
"Be cautious all... the voices keep repeating three words, over and over. 'Hopeless. Sacrilege. Enemies.' I'm thinking we're not welcome down here."
He looks at the sisters and wonders if they'll even believe him.
"I didn't realize your mother was fond of spiders. Just let me know what creatures you think should be left alone, and I'll leave them to you."
Sol smiles at Tynan's thoughtfulness in asking.
"Oh, Mum loved spiders. That was her favorite pet. Isn't that right, Rae?" Sol smiles at her sister. "Was there anything else she liked so much?"
Sol considers on her own.
"Oh! Pseudodragons!! She'd loved them I think. One of her oldest friends was a p-dragon."
Sol tries to remember more as she walks as Tynan asked her a good question.
* * *
"Be cautious all... the voices keep repeating three words, over and over. 'Hopeless. Sacrilege. Enemies.' I'm thinking we're not welcome down here."
Sol listens to Tynan, considering his words.
"Oh, that's probably because they don't know us yet. I bet once they see us, they won't be so mean," Sol replies cheerily, following the rest.
Sol walks on, looking at the different lanterns.
"Rae, look! Lanterns! Different colored ones!" Sol counts. "There are 5 of them dangling, and two are missing! Maybe the voices are mad that their lanterns are broken."
Sol twirls, looking around, then looks into the sarcophagus.
"Rae, look! Someone else likes to do stonework too! This is..."
Craft (Sculpture) - any info?
To Rae he says in his mind casually, but there's a definite hint of actual panic to his rasp:
"And what 'Thing' would that thing be?"
Rae rubs her nose and looks away, "We don't talk about The Thing. It's a rule we have."
Pillette will follow the daughter of the p-dragon's friend and take a look at the sarcophagus, wondering if it reminds her of any of the local Chelaxian families or institutions she knows.
"Hopeless. Sacrilege. Enemies"
Her gaze quirks up, listening for the voices Tynan reported. "There is sacrilege. And then there is sacrilege." She taps the leathers over her chest, wondering what would be considered profane here in the heart of noble Cheliax.
Tynan looks at the lanterns hanging in the different alcoves.
Green, yellow, orange, missing, stairway, violet, missing, blue
Tynan rethinks the order, and realizes they're in the same order as the spectrum.
Lilliana loved drawing rainbows...
"These lanterns seem to form a spectrum. I'm thinking there should be a red lantern in this alcove" he says, pointing at the alcove just to the left of the stairway. "And it's likely that and indigo lantern was in that alcove." Pointing towards the second alcove from the right.
"That said, I'm not sure what might happen if we DO complete the light spectrum..."
Tynan examines the carved sarcophagus, looking for any sign of recognition.
"There is sacrilege. And then there is sacrilege."
And this forsaken country knows sacrilege all too well...
Ascaria walks the entire chamber, so he can see what the others are talking about. He looks carefully at each lantern in turn, and returns to the party when his sojourn is finished.
”It certainly is a strangely lit place. Any chance those shards above are the red lantern Mort? You were messing about with it, perhaps someone removed it and broke it.”
”Other than that, I’m at something of a loss here. It certainly is a strange place, but I don’t feel any summons here.”
He looks at the other party members and shrugs. He then notices, for the first time, that Rae is still injured from the previous fight. He sighs and moves toward her.
”Now Rae, don’t be bashful. There’s no knowing what lies down here, and though it feels like we’ve barely started, and I’m nearly out of healing, there’s a little left to keep you going at full strength - or at least close to it!”
He examines her injuries, and when he sees they’re deeper than he thought, he casts a .
”OK then. Now what?” he looks to the faces of his companions expecting someone to have a brilliant idea.
"Look, Rae! It's violet! I love violets!" Sol walks down the violet lit nook.
"Rae rubs her nose and looks away, "We don't talk about The Thing. It's a rule we have."
Mort sighs.
Clearly, this is the 10th hell. There's not enough room in my tiny little mind for them. Are they just messing with me?
Giving her the benefit of the doubt he looks at Rae and says, "O.K... fine. Fair enough. But if you see something like 'a Thing' -- or even 'The Thing' -- coming our way, could you give us a heads up?"
"Any chance those shards above are the red lantern Mort?"
"Quite possible, I guess. There are two lamps missing here."
He walks up to the sarcophagus to check out the stonework and detail.
"Scary," he mutters, observing the posture of the body depicted on the tomb."Is this some sort of cult thing, I wonder?", he asks, referring to the stonework as a whole.
He cautiously walks down one of the hallways with a missing lamp to see what else might have been there to be tampered with.
At the center of the chamber is a raised platform, upon which sits the sealed sarcophagus. The lid bears a white stone relief of a tall figure cloaked in a simple garment of flowing cloth. It’s difficult to say why, exactly, but the outfit conjures thoughts of ancient times. The figure at first looks human, but a cursory examination reveals that it is about seven feet tall, is completely hairless, and is of indeterminate sex. Its arms and hands rest at its side. The left hand curls upon itself in a fist, but the right is placed palm up, with the thumb turned in and all but the index finger held parallel to the arm. The index finger is broken off. The figure wears a scarab-like amulet around its neck, inscribed with what appears to be a personal symbol of some kind.
As Tynan and Pillette study the sarcophagus for different reasons, they are not able to link the sarcophagus with anything familiar to them. The sarcophagus is quite ancient.
In your study of sculpting hands in particular, you get the sense that the index finger appears to have been originally curled under the thumb.
The symbol inscribed in the amulet appears to relate to a powerful elemental entity.
The sarcophagus rests upon a small raised platform carved in the shape of a stylistic arrow, with the tip aligned with the head of the relief figure upon the lid and a short shaft extending from the foot of the sarcophagus. The arrow's tip is pointed at the orange lantern.
As Ascaria walks the small tunnels' lengths, he notes that each lantern hangs by a chain, five feet from the ground. The ground directly below each lantern is a carved circle, five feet in diameter. The ceiling in the tunnels is 10 feet off the ground, but the alcove ceilings at the ends of the tunnels extend beyond Ascaria's sight.
When you approach the green lantern, it becomes more apparent the workmanship involved in these lanterns. Within the lantern itself appears to be a torch, still lit. The metal working and the glasswork alone sets the value of each lantern at roughly 50gp.
As the group approaches the sarcophagus, the room grows utterly quiet. Almost expectant.
"Any chance those shards above are the red lantern Mort?"
Mort finally pulls out one of the shards he collected and holds it up to Ascaria's lit hairpin.
"Actually -- these shards are different from the lamp shards. This is pitch black -- it reflects the light of your pin, but the light itself doesn't at all pass through it. Odd."
He shrugs at Mort, "Ahh well, it was worth a try. Thanks!"
Ascaria resists the urge, quite strong, to break out the charcoal and doodle on the sarcophagus.
He peers at it closely, "Interesting. I don't see anything else down here, unless we relight all the lanterns. Should we open this and see what's inside?"
"It feels... wrong somehow, but so is taking kids away from their families."
He looks closely at the lid to see if it's sealed, or just resting in place.
He's not sure.
"Rae, look! Torchlight!" Sol says, noting the lit torch within the green lantern.
"Does anyone have a torch handy? It might be that we need to light these others so we can see their pretty colors too!"
"Does anyone have a torch handy? It might be that we need to light these others so we can see their pretty colors too!"
The halfling retrieves one from her pack, awkwardly holding her crossbow in one hand as she offers the torch to Solrisa. "Of course." It pays to be prepared.
"Should we open this and see what's inside?"
As the Gnome speaks of opening the sarcophagus, and puppy-eyes speaks of the lanterns, Pillette makes an observation. "The arrow underneath the sarcophagus points to the orange lantern."
"I'll bet this platform the sarcophagus is on rotates, so it can point to any of the lanterns. The question is why...
Or how...
Mort walks up to one end of the raised platform with sarcophagus and pushes on it to see if it will move at all.
"Oh! Pillette! Thank you, you're so helpful!" Sol says with genuine appreciation.
While others twist and twirl the sarcophagus, Sol goes to light the violet lantern with the torch from Pillette.
Solrisa finds opening the lantern to be quite easy. A light downward pull, and the receptacle lowers along wire guides, which support it until she can insert the full torch. A hand is required to hold still the cap, while raising the receptacle to its closed position.
The violet lantern is now lit.
The sarcophagus resists casual manipulation, but Mort's strength is more than enough to start the sarcophagus rotating. It moves from its position pointing at the orange lantern, to pointing at the yellow lantern. The sarcophagus pushes back against Mort's strength, as the base clicks into its new position.
No sooner has the sarcophagus finished its rotation, than a metal cylinder rises from the floor amidst a deep rumbling from below. No sooner has the cylinder finished rising, than a set of doors cracks open and slides back into the cylinder, revealing an empty space within. The rumbling stops as soon as the cylinder finishes its movements.
Mort's compromised eyebrow flickers.
"Disturbing..."
Tynan heads to the yellow corridor to investigate the cylinder that rose from the floor, looking to see if he can spot anything within the open space.
Sol turns to look at the cylinder and Mort.
"Oh! Mort, look! A cylinder!" Sol cheers happily. "I wonder what it does."
Sol checks out her violetly lit area.
The cylinder's interior seems to have enough space for a normally-sized person to fit inside, comfortably, two smaller individuals, or one Mort-sized person squeezing very, very uncomfortably. It requires you to step down and into the cylinder, which allows you to gauge the cylinder's roughly six-foot length.
Aside from the hanging lanterns, there appears to be no other lamps or light sources positioned there within the tunnels.
The halfling blinks her eyes several times as Solrisa actually lights the torch and Mort moves the sarcophagus. Archlord almighty, they are actually...
"Any who fiddles with graves and such a place, better be prepared..." ...to deal with the consequences.
As the cylinder rises, she taps her leathers just below her neck for strength.
So are we the enemies? The sacrilege? Or is it this place? Perhaps someone should find out. She turns to Solrisa. "I wonder what happens with the cylinder if we point it at a lit lantern."
"Sol, stay away from that thing." Rae moves between the cylinder and her sister.
Ascaria shakes his head to loosen the cobwebs.
He casts Detect Magic and gives the entire chamber a slow sweep. He has to move around quite a bit to examine everything. He starts with the area around the grave, then examines the cylinder, then violet, then green, etc.
"Give me a few minutes, this will take a while."
"Ascaria, did you notice anything about the floor space when you swept the alcoves before -- could there be more of these? If so, I wonder if they'd all go to the same place." Mort asks.
He looks toward the others in the yellow lamp alcove.
There's no room.
He calls out:
"Hey Tynan -- what's that thing made of? Does it look like it'll twist out of the ground or anything?"
"Look, Rae! A tube!" Sol looks back at the sarcophagus. "Maybe we should spin it again!"
Sol looks at Mort.
"I'll help you!"
Sol will try moving it one alcove in the same direction that Mort was pushing.
Strength
"Sol, could you give Ascaria a few minutes to finish up before you do that?"
He calls to Rae.
"Good move leaving Cudgel and Wreck behind, but I think we're short a leash."
"Good move leaving Cudgel and Wreck behind, but I think we're short a leash."
Rae growls, stepping between Mort and Sol. "*You* don't get to do that! Sol's just... curious." Rae's face twists, her irritation clear, though who it is really directed at is unclear.
Without even looking, she snaps, "SOL! Stay outta there!"
Ascaria begins to work his way around the entirety of the chamber. Each tunnel, in turn, is fully fleshed out for the presence of magics. In its current state, the yellow tunnel, with its cylinder risen, is the first to detect as magically touched. The cylinder itself radiates with magic, although its stone capping does not. Working his way through the other tunnels, he is reasonably sure none of the other floor plates themselves detect as such. Finishing at the violet tunnel, the lantern itself lit from Pillette's torch, nothing detects as magic.
Returning to the center, and the sarcophagus, Ascaria is able to understand that the lid is aglow in the touch of magic as well.
Ascaria also understands that none of his search party detect with magical auras as well.
In passing through the Blue tunnel, you notice something you hadn't before on your stroll through the chamber. It appears that a small humanoids's skeleton lies in a very broken form, along the corner of the wall. It's odd you hadn't seen in on your first pass through the room.
Solrisa, sure that Ascaria has finished with his investigations, takes a cue from Mort's first attempt, to bring the sarcophagus to a new position. Her quite adequate strength begins and finishes the adjustment, the sarcophagus coming to point at the tunnel of the green lantern.
Almost as soon as the sarcophagus finishes clicking into position, a mighty grinding noise begins in the chamber. The yellow tunnel's cylinder snaps shut, and descends quickly.
Ascaria finishes his sweep as Sol turns the sarcophagus yet again.
"The sarcophagus is glowing with magics as is the yellow cylinder. I also found a skeleton in the blue tunnel but I haven't had time to examine it."
He looks at Sol, "Will everybody please slow down a second? This dead guy might be able to tell us what happens with these cylinders."
He moves toward the blue tunnel now to examine the body (double move).
"Look, Rae! It moved!" Sol looks back at the sarcophagus then at the green lit area. She straightens her armor and checks her hair.
"Rae, isn't this fun!?"
Mort hesitantly makes his way across the rumbling room to take up a position west of the Green alcove. He draws his long sword in case something should come shooting out of the alcove.
Because -- as everyone knows -- a sword is the best thing to use in that sort of situation.
He begins to sweat.
"*You* don't get to do that! Sol's just... curious."
"Of course not, Miss Rae. I'm sorry." He sounds quite sincere. "It's just that I'm worried. You know what they say about curiosity."
...It kills cats.
"You can talk to skeletons?" He's more impressive than I thought. What else is that Gnome hiding?
Pillette peers closely as the yellow tunnel's cylinder descends, and steps into position as Sol rotates the sarcophagus towards the green.
"Green's lit. If it, too, has a cylinder..." It might not be empty. She moves forward and levels her crossbow at the center, peering over the stock at the twisting and rumbling stonework.
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"Of course not, Miss Rae. I'm sorry." He sounds quite sincere. "It's just that I'm worried. You know what they say about curiosity."
Rae frowns, "Yes... it kills cats, but feeds dreams." or so Mom always said.
"Still, better to be ready for whatever the curious turn up." she draws her sword and turns a rare smile on her sister.
Tynan looks around the room, thinking the purple lantern and the sarcophagus lined up may have caused the yellow cylinder to rise. I have no idea if the sarcophagus pointing AT a lit lantern will do something different... though it certainly sounds like it.
Tynan watches, short sword drawn, both the green corridor, and the stairs they came down, as they form a line with the sarcophagus arrow.
The grinding noise continues. Those closer to the green tunnel can tell that the end of the tunnel seems to be the epicenter of the rumbling, as if something is about to give way.
"Something's happening over here." Rae nudges Mort to join her as she moves into the Green Tunnel, to protect the others from whatever might come up.
Ascaria sighs, What did they do now?
He turns away from the skeleton, so inviting, moves toward Rae's voice, and draws his sling (unloaded).
"What do you see Rae?"
The rumbling is rather alarming.
"Rae, you might not want to stand in the middle of a shaking tunnel." That might collapse at any moment?
She turns towards the green lantern, aiming the emerging stone. Well, the angry one might slow down whatever emerges, if she doesn't, if we don't, get caught in a cave-in.
Tynan moves toward the green tunnel, moving near Ascaria so he can fend off any attackers who might target him.
This isn't looking good...
Mort moves up the side of the tunnel and readies his blades for anything that might emerge from the tube slot, and the rest of himself for anyone who might try to dive into it...
Sol pushes the sarcophagus again, one click to blue.
Str Check
Those in the Green Lantern tunnel are aware first of the rumble's ceasing.
Solrisa adjusts the sarcophagus again, this time pointing the arrow's base at the Blue Lantern's tunnel. The entire chamber seems to ease from the grinding noise of stone and metal.
When the sarcophagus comes full stop, there is no new noise, nor new cylinder that arises in the Blue Lantern tunnel.
The bones, some shreds of clothing mixed about, seem to indicate a small humanoid frame, either child or halfling, likely. Several distal bones are shattered, as if the poor soul fell from a great height.
Sol smiles and claps her hand to her shield.
"Rae, look! I fixed it!" Sol chirps.
Sol smiles and claps her hand to her shield.
"Rae, look! I fixed it!" Sol chirps.
"So you did. Should we go check out the skeleton?" Rae moves towards the blue tunnel cautiously.
"Rae, look! I fixed it!"
Excitable one, isn't she?
She retrieves another torch. "Should we light the blue, as well? Might be easier to view the skeleton."