"I will... stand back and let you do what you're good at"
Those runes trigger Vy's memories
But it's just a fleeting thought
Eoghan has a tense moment where he jams the wrong spring. Luckily the trap doesnt go off, but its still active.
The runes on the door are a bit hard to study from here. The iconography is stylized thalassion.
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While the smartypantses of the party are thinking about random scribbles on the statues, Eoghan keeps working on the damn trap, all the while muttering to himself about not being able to focus with so many people around.
Eoghan hears the click of the triggering trap and manages to dive forward and out of the way just in time to avoid being boxed in by falling portcullis.
Seconds after the portcullis have cropped down, the statues begin slashing at the space between the bars. Its clear that this trap intends to trap, then kill something.
After the statues have stopped slashing, a hatch opens in the ground.
When the hatch closes, the portcullis raise again and the statues assume their previous positions.
Eoghan yelps in surprise as he narrowly dodges the trap. He regains his composure, and addresses the rest of the party, red-faced.
"See, this sort of thing happened to one of my friends. Nasty business indeed. Wouldn't recommend it. Now, if you just stay quiet for a minute, I can focus on shutting this thing down."
The portcullis slam down, and this time Eoghan is too slow to dive away. He is trapped between them .
Initiative
round 1
Vitro
Snowflake
Justin
Dayo
Trap
Eoghan
Vitro, Snowflake, Justin and Dayo can act.
’ You need to do better’ says Snowdlake while he cast Guidance on Eophan
As Guidance is available, it would have made sense to cast it before Eoghan tried to disable the trap. That would mean he failed by four or less, and the trap doesnt trigger.
We can ignore initiative and the casting of reduce person, and Eoghan can try again. (with another guidance)
"I promise I'm good at this. It's just been a a while."
A few more tense moments, and there is a loud click as the triggering mechanism is coupled loose from the rest of the trap.
Eoghan breathes a sigh of relief. The trap is disarmed.
The plan was for it to let him slip out between the bars, but +3 AC would have been a nice consolation prize for the julian fries making statues
"Much appreciative," Dayo smiles and blushes. "If you weren't here, that would've been me, and I've already spent too much time at the bottom of a dark, cold pit."
"Well, that was exciting..." Vitro steps closer to examine the runes now that the trap is handled. He slowly reads them aloud: "It's a ... what does it say here? Trap?" He grins "Okay okay, let's see what it really says"
"Eh, it's what I do," Eoghan says nonchalantly, his burning ears betraying his attempt at aloofness.
When he thinks the others don't hear him, he whispers a quick prayer to Magdh.
"Thank you Lady, for cheating fate once again. I am eternally in your debt. I hope I can repay you someday."
The runes on both doors are a long, rambling text about protecting a place called 'Bakrakhan'.
Nothing about that name rings a bell for Justin.
"Well. We'll have to consult the scholars in town later. For now, how about that statue down the hall? Is it also going to try to murder us?"
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"The only thing that's dangerous was that trap, I think. Nothing else really caught my eye, but I'll look around once more, to be certain."
"Two doors up ahead. You've spent more time in here than I, do you have any clue what might be behind them?"
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"Hallways" he says in a deadpan voice.
The remaining part of the hallway, the broken statue and the doors all look safe to Eoghan.
A genuine smile creeps on Eoghan's face. "Oh, you do not want to trade horror stories with me. During my recovery, I've made nurses soil themselves in fright and reduced doctors to blubbering heaps of tears. Are you sure you want to try to scare me? We could be here for a while.
Anyway, hallway up ahead seems fine. Left or right?"
mini-Dayo squeezes past Eoghan and steps in front of the door.
"Children. We killed children in their sleep. And we sent their mothers screaming into the forest. 'Horror' is in the eye of the beholder."
And he opens the door .
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"I was part of killing my own sister"
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Wide stone ledges of red marble line the curving walls of this room, which is well lit by four burning skulls that sit in each corner. Three chairs rest in the room, and both stone ledges are covered with old books, scrolls, teeth, bones, scrimshaw artwork, jars of deformed
creatures soaking in brine, taxidermied animals and limbs, and other strange objects.
To the north, a large round fountain filled with frothy blue water fills the room with the gentle sound of bubbling.
"Hmm... a bit tacky, but I think I'll call dibs on at least one of the burning skulls anyway. As a wizard you're expected to make your tower look the part after all. But what's all this then..."
Vitro is lured into the room to examine the paperworks.
"I do love the stonework in here. We didn't use a lot of stone on Little Beautiful, other than the central ziggurat."
Dayo squints his eyes, looking for any hidden menace.
"The rest we didn't have, either."
There are a lot of books and scrolls and notes. It will take a while to sort trough all of it.
Eoghan's face falls. "Oh. I hadn't expected that, my apologies. I hadn't pegged you as the child-murdering type." Eoghan makes a sign of prayer to Magdh.
"And what was that about killing your sister? The one you put to bed last night?"
Eoghan shakes his head to clear it from thought. "Anyway, so, yeah, I've seen, and to my shame, committed similar atrocities. I can talk about them if you wish, but let's not do that right now. Seems more like a campfire thing, with lots of strong alcohol. Sorry I mentioned it."
Clearly uncomfortable, Eoghan looks around the room, desperate for any kind of distraction.
"Nothing in that statement sounds appealing, but I agree we should press on."
Dayo will proceed back out to the hallway, wait for everyone to get into position, and open the door.
Dayo gasps and his eyebrows bemoan horror.
"Oh, goodness, never! It was built by the First. It sheltered us during storms. It is where Mengkare, blessings be upon him, paired up the perfect progenitors. We decorated its walls with bright colors, and its halls echoed our songs. No sacrifices of any sort!"
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The door should be fine, but Eoghan checks it out again, just to be sure.
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"Boring, just another hallway. Then again, boring is good. Boring is safe. I like boring."
The southern wing of this L-shaped hallway ends at a pair of stone doors carved with the depictions of two skeletons reaching out to clutch a skull between them, while to the east the hallway narrows down to frame a circular carving of what seems to be an immense stack of tens of thousands of gold coins that rises from floor to ceiling. The edges of these coins are carved with tiny, spiky runes.
Dayo silently steps up to the double doors.
"Why would someone want so many coins?"