Goggeck still focuses on spotting threats. The others are better suited to mending flesh.
The commander stands, gripping her axes and letting out a heavy breath. She runs her sleeve below her chin, wiping away the excess 'blood' smears.
She turns towards Toulbe and nods. "You're still alive. Good."
The comment from Gunnar about bleeding ghosts has her tensing up, but she relaxes after Urist gives her a lingering stare. Strangely enough, he never make eye contact. Perhaps they have another means of communication?
Hezekh takes a moment to check out his arm. He finds that it is still functioning, yet may need some time to repair.
Glor plugs the tiny hole above the door with earthen material and raises a slab of stone before the western door. Should be good.
Goggeck steps forward to open the door.
Goggeck opens the door and, lo and behold, the pressure plate trigger springs into place. There is a brief whirring noise and then a muffled ‘clunk’. The gravel Glor used to plug the hole comes loose and tumbles out, followed by a dart which falls harmlessly to the floor.
The dart breaks from the impact on the gravel and remains useless.
Beyond the door lies an office or study of sorts. Two simple bookshelves flank the door on opposite walls, and a sturdy oaken desk sits in the center of the room. Scrolls of parchment sit on the desk, as does some unusual crafting equipment and a simple scale. It looks as if this office was once kept neat and orderly, but dust has accumulated on al, the surfaces from years of neglect.
Lets do some cleaning and some searching and some reading. Glor says as he enters the office and prepares to do all three.
"Let us seek more traps first.", Goggeck mutters in response as he enters.
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Glor dusts off the desktop and discovers a fistful of agate crystals being measured on the scale. Next to the scale is a heavy paperweight made from lapis lazuli. The parchment scrolls, he discovers, are mostly worm eaten, but from what he can tell they are lists and ledgers, inventory counts, production reports, and a schedule of executions “by Hammer.”
Not satisfied with his search, he discovers a secret drawer in the desk. Within, he finds two scrolls filled with runic symbols, a small pouch of black onyx stones, and a bundle of papyrus correspondences with one Brother Alk’B’Dur, discussing the practices of threnodic spellcasting and mummification. The final correspondence reads, “I am happy to be of service to your empire. Arrangements have been made for my travel. I will be arriving with several acolytes in a month’s time.”
“Wait!” warns Goggeck as he notices a stone slab in the flooring beneath the desk looks a bit off. Closer inspection reveals it is not a trap, but another secret compartment. This one contains another scroll, another pouch of onyx gemstones, and a heavy tome of seemingly ancient origin. Flipping through the tome, Goggeck finds it is written in an archaic form of the dwarven language and is filled with illustrations of a uniquely dwarven style of fighting.
After their discoveries are made, the two dwarves give each other a knowing glance. There has to be more. On a hunch, they move the two bookcases aside. Goggeck finds that behind the northern bookcase are two levers built into the stonework of the wall.
And with the bookcase shoved aside, Goggeck looks to the others, then approaches the nearest lever to him, peering at it without touching.
The levers have no indication as to their function. They are identical except for the fact that the left lever is in the up position, while the right is flipped down.
Goggeck glances back at the apparatus on the desk.
"Is that not a portable artificer’s laboratory? We should certainly make use of it.", he says, looking at Boomer.
"Heh. Heheheh. Aye, that it is, and that we will," Boomer grinned, his eyes gleaming.
"Can't make out what these scrolls do though," he said. "Ah think I'm close. Someone want tae give me a hand?"
Toulbe thanks the Cmd. for her worry and is glad to see her up. As the others spill into the room, Toulbe is overwhelmed by everything that is unearthed and is shocked into pausing for a period of time before he joins in and begins to help.
He manages to identify the Scrolls in the Drawer and between Boomer and his own head scratching the two identify the other scroll as well.
However, Toulbe is completely baffled by everything else that is brought up.
Gunnar looks over some shoulders as others attempt to decipher what they've found but nothing jumps out at him as familiar or noteworthy.
Urist hangs just behind the group, but he looks around the room with just as much interest. Eventually, he turns his back towards the dart on the floor. Out of morbid curiosity, he picks up the shattered ammo and puts it in his pocket, trying his best not to prick himself on it.
"Huh. What's Osiriani folks doin' around 'ere? Well, a'least their teachin' an' whatnot. Seems these bearded bastards was in'trested in doin a whole buncha magic that messed with undead."
"Undead? So it may be foreign magic responsible for these skeleton-haunted halls?"
You've successfully identified all the things save for the ancient tome. Perhaps someone you meet on your travels will be able to illuminate that for you.
"How do ye fare? Ready and able to press on? Or shall we fortify ourselves for a time?"
I am mighty keen ta get the basement doors closed and I be hoping one of these two levels will do it. Glor will study the levels to see if one is more worn than the other.
Urist purses his lips and strokes his beard. "Bein' tha' this's tha leader's room, s'less likely tha' these levers'll do anythin' bad ta us. I mean, wha' dwarf'd make a switch that'd kill m'self right?"
With a chuckle, Urist marches over to the levers and grasps one at random, his arm flexing as he begins to pull it....
....and stops at the last second. "N'less tha' be what he's THINKIN' we'd do, an' 'e put a trap lever 'ere. Hmm." His eyes focus on the levers, checking the mechanism for a potential (if obvious) trap.
He turns and shrugs. "I say we give one a pull, jus' ta see wha' i' does, then we keep explorin' and clearin' out these undead."
The tome is opaque to Hezekh at first glance, but he thinks that with enough time he might be able to puzzle it out.
The levers are made of the same pinkish granite as the rest of the complex. Nothing new can be gleaned by staring at them. Only, The Image of Droskar's words, spoken not 30 minutes ago, suddenly pop into Glor's head.
"Aye, the levers which control the doors are in the Emperor's office beyond the throne room."
So is "up" open or closed? I think up would be closed, but its only a guess. How about this. We spread ourselves out from here to the upper doors and then one of us throws the down level back into the up position. If there is any movement of the upper door we reverse the level as soon as it can be reversed and then throw the other lever. We have the statue guard there so we will be reinforced in case of any trouble. But I do hope we guess right as I like to have the place explored and secure before we open the doors to the outside on purpose.
"I am amenable to that plan, Glor. I too would know what these levers do."
Glor stays behind while the others create a relay chain all the way back to the large chamber where the Image of Droskar keeps watch over your wagons. For all you can tell, this wing of the complex is quiet.
"Did you find the Emperor?" he asks.
When everyone is in position, the order is relayed down the line, Glor flips the down lever up. He hears first a whirring noise emanating from behind the wall, then the grinding of stone gears, then the rattling of iron chains...
Whoever is keeping an eye on the front doors watches patiently, but nothing happens. Then, after a few moments, a booming sound echoes throughout the halls, originating in the lower part of the Vault. It is easy to assume that you've just shut the rear doors, closing you in, and closing the Old Quarry Road out.
I think we did it! Glor exclaims when he hears the echoed report. I am gonna run down anc check the back door. Who wants to come?
"Well someone's gotta be there to pull yer screamin' arse outta the fire and patch ye up, so off we go."
"Let's go." Hezekh says, before following the others.
Lo, and they returned to the back entrance and they found it closed. There was much rejoicing.
However, the booming noise of the shutting doors has stirred something from its slumber. As the huzzahs die down, a scurrying noise can be heard. Approaching from up the southern staircase is a giant centipede!
Glor moves forward for a clear shot and fires at the arthropod.
Glor one shots the centipede. Does he ever miss?
Goggeck advances - to hold the corridor.
And sees that Glor has splattered the centipede.
He laughs.
Long and hard.
And when he calms down, he says:
"Which way is up?"
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The only way up is back up the long ramp to the west from where you are currently.
The stairs to the north lead down, and that seems to be where all the undead are coming from.
The stairs to the south also lead down, and a giant centipede just emerged from that direction.
You left one door off of the throne room unchecked, there were also other doors in that wing left unchecked.
Theres also another totally unexplored wing south of the annoying bronze statue of Droskar.
You've set two glowing gems in the warrior statues in the octagonal hall you stand in now. Two statues are left gemless. You know there's a secret door behind one of the statues that is somehow connected to this whole gem business.
Goggeck continues his out loud musing.
"We should continue to search the area near the throne room, before tackling the south wing."
Toulbe comes up and begins examining the splattered centipede while the others prepare to stride in the next direction. It wasnt his job to denote where to go, it was his job to keep spirits high and beliies full.
He began digging around a little, careful of staying away from the venom sacks. He wondered given the size of the legs, if treated like crabs if they could make for a good meal.
Glor one shots the centipede. Does he ever miss?
I concur with Goggeck. I'd be in favor of searching from the top down. Now that the back door is closed up good and tight lets start at the top, shall we?
Toulbe quickly cuts off 7 giant centipede legs, one for everybody. Gooey yellow ichor oozes out of them as he carries them back to the wagon. Whether or not they'd be edible is anyone's guess, but dwarves are renowned for having iron gullets capable of eating just about anything. One thing's for sure, they better be cooked soon, as their expiration is imminent.
Returning back to the throne room, the group checks the other door. No sign of it being trapped, so they open it to find a sparse room, furnished with a simple bed, an empty weapon rack, an armor rack with a breastplate hanging from it, and two bronze coffers. This must be Ordrick's private quarters, and one might be surprised at how underwhelming it is.
Glor, conditioned to do so, looks for a gem in the breastplate.
Commander Silverbrew steps into the room alongside Urist, and the two share a glance. They both nod, and begin to inspect the coffers. Each one carefully examines a case before attempting to open it.
Glor helps examine both coffers after looking over the breastplate.
The breastplate is of remarkable make, emblazoned with the same image of a flame above an anvil that you've seen on doors and things around the Vault complex. It's also in remarkably good shape, with a like-new luster. Strange, considering how old it must be.
The bronze coffers, for instance, are heavily patinated with age. They aren't trapped, but they prove a little difficult to pop open. Inside one is a collection of tarnished silver jewelry, inside the other are a set of three vials containing a glowing orange liquid.
Boomer picked up the vials, swirled them, unstoppered them and sniffed them one by one.
You have three more potions of Cure Light Wounds to add to your collection.
"I would not refuse a potion or two.", notes Goggeck.
Boomer passed them out to Goggeck, Hezekh, and Urist. "They'll heal ye. Try not tae need 'em."
Urist accepts the potion and tucks it into his pocket. "Tha' breastplate looks fine an' propper. S'prisin' fer the kinda slave laber ya'd find down 'ere. Anyone able ta give it a good look?"
"An' 'sides tha' ah don' see 'nny reason ya 'ang out in this 'ere room."
The breastplate does look out of place.
The small room is cramped with 6 dwarves, a gnome, and a ghost poking around in it, and Goggeck and Gunnar both decide to sit on the bed for a moment, just to make some room. To their surprise, the mattress is rather lumpy in the middle, uncomfortably so.