A short while after ratchet enters the doors shut on him and the elevator begins to lower back into the floor.
You find yourself in a 20x15 ft room. The walls here are covered in bas-relief images similar to the slender figure upon the sarcophagus lid in the chamber above. Nearly a dozen androgynous, hairless humanoids stand in poses of deference, almost as if they are paying homage to the viewer. Many extend their hands in adoration, their faces awash in adulation. Several of the statues lack hands, arms, heads or anything else easily hacked off by long-absent tomb robbers. About 15ft to the south, a dark passage extends from an elaborately carved arch. Only a little of this hallway is visible, as a large stone slab mostly blocks the entrance.
"Tomb robbers 've already been 'ere. Means tha' trap either resets itself, or was left as a present by whoever was 'ere b'fore us." Ratchet says, grumbling to himself.
"Come on down, lads. Nothin' killed me."
Burden clanks forward and follows Ratchet's example glancing about before looking to the dwarven alchemist and quirking a brow as he points to the passage,
"You want to take a look first? Or should I just see if I can shift it?"
"Le's not git careless, we ain't in no rush. Ah said nothin's killed me. Le's keep it tha' way."
"You aren't wrong, I just don't like it," Byden replies sullenly.
"You tall folks 're always so damn impatient." Ratchet said with a chuckle as he scanned the room and ran his hands gently across the floor.
Grimmuk follows after Ratchet and Byden, taking up watch with his crossbow at each new juncture.
Lost in his own thoughts about the lanterns Adotiln doesn't realize till it's too late that the others have stepped into the chamber and the doors have shut. 'Oy! ye forgot me!' he hollers after them as he watches the chamber sinking.
He moves over to the platform and tries rotating it, stopping it at each color and waiting a little while to see if anything moves.
[ooc]Searching the room, (just read the Ratchet spoiler for a general description), Checking the stone block, you see that it is 10ft wide, 8ft high and 2ft thick. There is a slot in the ceiling above it of the same dimensions. It is freestanding and it might be possible to topple it with enough force (DC25 STR check) There is a gap between the top of the block and the ceiling that it might be possible to squeeze through (DC25 Escape Artist check). Looking beyond the block, you see a long hallway with alcoves that appear to contain statues.
Ratchet, poking about the wall carvings, finds several well hidden metal pipes in some of the figures mouths.
There is also a small stone button to the side of the elevator.
Turning the arrow to check for any other hidden elevators, you find success at the green lantern. When the arrow points in this direction, a tearing rumbling begins and another stone elevator begins to slowly rise from the ground. It is of the same make as the first, but whatever mechanism is powering it, seems to be in more dis-repair.
Byden steps forward and inspects the block, looking back at his companions appraisingly,
"Grimmuk give me and hand here would you? Let's put some orc strength to work."
The burly paladin sets his feet and begins straining against the block, emitting a low growl as he does so.
"Hold up, ah got some pipes 'ere. Might be part o' a trap we 'ave'nt found yet."
Ratchet inspects the pipes in the carving's mouths, trying to figure out what they do.
Byden shrugs,
"Stuff'em up, if you're worried. You checked for traps right, so you tell me if its a trap or not. But I say if you don't know after all that looking then you aren't going to and we need to just roll the dice."
Grimmuk cocks his head to the left and looks at Byden, "Orc strength? I'd almost be insulted."
Smiling he puts his shoulder in to aid his companion.
Byden and Grimmuk grunt with exertion, but successfully topple the stone slab. It crashes to the ground with a deafening boom that echos in the subterranean halls for a long time.
Beyond the stone, the hallway extends ~70 feet ending in a T junction. Curious carvings that seem to represent a stirring tempest cover the walls of the ten-foot-wide passage. At measured intervals, small alcoves flank the passage, and, based on the closest pair, each alcove contains an androgynous humanoid figure with cupped hands. The figures stand roughly seven feet tall.
As the noise dies a little, another sound can be heard, the softer sound of stone against stone, as a pressure plate, held down through the ages by the great weight of the stone, slides out of the floor. In an instant, the room is flooded with noxious green fumes that pour out of the mouths of some of the bas-reliefs.
"Gah, you weird ancient arse weasels! I hope whoever designed this place is lurking about as some sort of undead monstrosity so I can explain how I feel about their pissing puzzlebox - pointedly. They clearly had too much arsing time on their hands." Byden growls, alternating between indignant coughs and splutters.
Then, looking a tad sheepish, he gestures Ratchet to the fore.
"Gha!" Ratchet chokes as he gets a face full of gas from the pipes. Quickly, he snaps a strange mask over the lower half of his face and pulls his goggles down over his eyes, making him look like some kind of odd bearded bug.
Glaring at Byden, he crosses his arms against his broad chest.
"Learn somethin', did ya?"
Fort
Grimmuk chokes on gas, retching horribly. He clasps a rag over his mouth and moves to a bas relief, tearing a piece of cloth away and trying to block the flow of the gas.
"Ain't nothin' ye' c'n do now, Grim. Them pipes 're in all the mouths o' them statues. They're all 'round the room. We ain't got 'nough rags t' stopper 'em all. Basically, we jus' need t' git outta this stuff until it dissipates, an' hope tha' it don't jus' keep pourin' out."
"Le's go back, git Adotiln, an' contemplate how dumb Byden is while we wait fer the gas t' clear."
"Yeah, I must have missed your brilliant solution you great bearded woman. If you want risk free living arse off and become a cheese monger. Suck it up. Now have these statues got exploding balls or something, or can we walk down this corridor?" Byden growls with no vitriol, insulting laced banter second nature to the former soldier.
"You start inspecting for traps and I'll go get Adotiln, once this gas clears."
"Aye." Ratchet nods. "Try not t' bring th' place down on our heads while yer at it."
Ratchet begins carefully moving into the newly revealed hall.
To nobody in particular, since there is no one there, Adotiln mutters, 'If'n I were of a more brave bent I might look down there but me thinks it'd be best to try rejoin the group, now what damn colour did I find that arrow on...'.
With that he stands back and scratches his head for a moment, then turns the slab towards orange.
'Ah-hah! This'd better be the one' he proclaims, and steps in...
Adotiln spins the arrow around, letting the elevator under the green lantern sink back down. In his spin back towards yellow, he also discovers another elevator beneath the indigo lantern Byden comes back up to join him and they both return below to regroup with the others
Ratchet: Beyond the stone, the hallway extends ~70 feet ending in a T junction. Curious carvings that seem to represent a stirring tempest cover the walls of the ten-foot-wide passage. At measured intervals, small alcoves flank the passage, and, based on the closest pair, each alcove contains an androgynous humanoid figure with cupped hands. The figures stand roughly seven feet tall.
Seeing that the mist is dispersing and Adotiln is coming down on his own Byden follows on behind Ratchet glowering suspiciously at the statues.
Ratchet waits, nodding in agreement as he sees Byden's silent assessment of the statues written on his face.
"Place has been full o' surprises so far. No reason t' think that's gonna change now." Ratchet mutters, carefully moving down the halway, scanning constantly and checking for pressure plates, deadfalls or any other hidden dangers.
"Someone keep an eye on them statues. Yell if'n they move at all."
Walking down the corridor you notice that the flanking statues seem as if they were presenting something, though their hands are now empty. You have a suspicion that you might not be the first explorers to walk this path.
As you move closer to the end of the hallway, the air begins to grow unnaturally cold.
What initially looked like a T junction is actually a huge stone pillar in the middle of a single room. Paths lead past to the left and right and the coldness appears to be emanating from the right side.
"I ain't dead. Come on up, fellas. Somethin' cold over thataway."
Drawing his sword Byden moves cautiously off to the right.
Grimmuk follows along, still gagging intermittently on phlegm caused by the poison attack. His eyes take on a gleam as he walks, searching for the feel of magic about him.
Turning the corner, you see that west wall of the room's great central pillar holds a deep recession that ends at what looks like a fountain basin about 4 feet off the ground. It is filled with an orange slurry that looks a bit like vomit.
The area around the fountain is infested with a brown mold that appears to be the source of the bitter cold. As you approach, you stop short before the cold becomes too painful. The mould spills across the floor into the open doorway of an adjacent room.
"Anyone have a clue what the cold sick is?" Byden asks, "could we burn it maybe?"
Ratchet eyeballs the mass, trying to think if he'd ever seen anything like it before.
'Wha' manner of mold is this? Looks worse then my Mah's bread!' Adotiln exlaims, before picking up a small stone.
'Wonder wha' happens if ye throw a rock a'it' he muses, before pegging it at the wretched stuff.
spellcraft
"Hold a moment, some sort of spell effect."
Adotiln's rock doesn't provoke a response
"I say we throw some fire at it and see what happens - from a distance. Fire beats cold right?" Byden says uncertainly.
Adotiln pats his pockets, 'Dammit! I canna believe I left wi'hout mah flint, anyone else got one?' he exclaims, looking somewhat irritated at his forgetfulness.
Grimmuk riffles through his belt pouch and produces some flint and steel, handing it wordlessly to Adotiln.
Ratchet looks at it for a bit, then shrugs. "Worth a shot."
Adotiln mutters his thanks as he takes the flint and steel, then tears off a strip of cloth from the bottom of his already tattered coat and wraps it around a rock. Tipping a bit of lamp oil on it he the proceeds to light it, 'Damn!' he shouts as his glove catches fire.
He throws it quickly at the mold before ripping the glove off and stomping on it.
Ratchet chuckles and waits to see if the fire has any effect.
Adotiln lobs the flaming stone at the mould. The flames flicker and die before it strikes the mould. As the fire dies, the mould shudders and twitches, suddenly doubling in area.
You all watch in horror as the mould surges over Adotlin and Ratchet. At its touch you both feel the heat being leached out of you:
"Gha!" Ratchet yells, scrambling backwards trying to get clear of the mass.
"Damn it, what the hells is wrong with this place?" Byden roars stepping back to give his companions room.
"What do we do now? Shall we retreat to heal up for the moment, or can you guys go on?"
"Bah. I'll be fine. Jus' a little cold." Ratchet says shivering and rubbing his arms.
"So Fire's a no-go. Le's try acid..."
Popping the tab on one of his reinforced bandoleer pouches, he threw a handful of pale powder on the mold and then followed it up with a splash of some kind of liquid. The two substances reacted caustically.
Byden hastily back up as the dwarf throws acid on the substance.