Istvan grins, Give Istvan but a few moments and you'll have your whispering spell. Twll Istvan though, who is remaining to pivot the arrow while you travel through the magic elevator. Also, tell Istvan what whill happen when we cycle through the other portals, as we must to reactivate yellow. The magics binding some of the portals no longer works.
Harold nods.
"Very well. I am willing to take point.."
He then gives a wry smile.
"I will be sure to let you know if something tries to eat me!"
Harold takes a deep breath, and gingerly steps inside the small room...
Peitry looks into the cylinder and then looks at Harold with a critical eye, back into the cylinder and then back at Harold.
Istvan pulls a large, dog-earred book out of his bag and, after studying for several minutes casts message on Harold.
You be all set man, but be warned, the magics only extend out 100'
"I'm wondering if I should cram in there with you Harold... You know, two eye better than one and all that.." Elvar suggests hesitantly, not quite believing he's offering himself up to enter a possibly dangerous area but still feeling excited at the prospect.
"I would suggest not stepping out of the elevator until you sure it is safe. This place is old, and a loose brick falling on your head is also dangerous"
"You mean you are ready to go down that machinery just hoping it will not crush you?", says Talia eyes wide open in astonishment.
"That's very brave of you, but if I were you, I'd try first to put a dead wolf body in it and see if it's not gnawed, crushed or fried if it comes up again."
Parnel looks at the opening,then looks at Hector, then looks back at the opening, then looks back at Hector...wondering if they could go through together if necessary. He then looks at the others, wondering who he would trust to be with Hector if they had to go through seperately.
"Yes". "Talia speaks wisely". "Let's see what it does first".
Elvar grins at Talia and shrugs. "Hey, we're having an adventure right? Besides, when am I going to get the chance next to investigate an ancient ruin from an obviously bygone era?"
Harold and Elvar squeeze into the cylinder. As soon as the pair are clear of the doors, they snap shut. The rumbling begins again and the cylinder sinks into the stone, until the caps stone is again flush with the floor. After a dozen or so seconds, the rumbling stops and the tomb is still once more.
The cylinder is vibrates slightly as it descends. A dozen heartbeats later, the vibrations stop and the doors slide open.
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.
"Well, that was interesting..."
Harold gingerly exits the cylinder, and begins to *carefully* search the chamber.
Elvar raises his hand and three will o' wisps sprout forth casting an eerie white light into the chamber as he steps out of the cylinder.
Walking slowly into the chamber Elvar tests his footing as he makes his way to inspect the statues.
"Inform Istvan that we're alright and what we've found Harold."
H + E: You begin your search of the room. A round later, the elevators doors snap shut and it begins to rise. You find a small stone button, located on the wall near where the elevator sits.
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 There is a gap between the top of the block and the ceiling that it might be possible to squeeze through . Looking beyond the block, you see a long hallway with alcoves that appear to contain statues.
Elvar inspects the stone block, looking for weak spots in it's structure, assessing it's size for how many could fit in at once to move it and the best placements for levies to aid in moving it.
Elvar also inspects the stone button, though he's pretty sure it's for calling the elevator down he's still suspicious.
Talia listen to the report from Istvan.
"Ask them to try to operate the device from where they are. If we all go down, it would be good to know we are not shut there. We need also to check if it still works from the bottom when the sarcophagus does not point on the yellow lantern, for example if it's back on the orange."
With some experimentation you determine that the elevator will continue to rise to the upper position as long as the arrow points to it. The small button serves as a call button to return the elevator to the lowered position.
Elvar goes over to the slab and peeks through the crack to see if he can discern what lies beyond and sends his lights floating through.
From where Istvan is standing inspecting the sarcophagus he whispers, We may want to be plugging those pipes man. Sounds like gas to me.
The hallway extends ~70 feet past the stone ending in a T junction. Curious carvings that seem to represent a stirring tempest cover the valls 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.
Elvar inspects the tubes in the statues mouths, seeing if they lead anywhere, then he will proceed to tear up a wet piece of cloth and stuff it into the tubes.
Fiddling with the hidden tubes, Elvar accidentally sets off the trap. A noxious green gas starts to pour out of the pipes and begins to fill the chamber he is in.
For the next steps, I propose:
-To let Elvar disarm the trap in room below the yellow lift alone :-).
-To go and explore that part of the dungeon after moving the big block together.-Afterwards, to come back up and go and check the corpse near the blue lantern and to check if there are lifts near the green and indigo lanterns.
Dashing to the elevator, Elvar runs from the noxious fumes, returning to the others . Though he managed to avoid the worst of it, Elvar soon begins to feel a little weak and tired. .
Returning to the latntern chamber coughing and weezing Elvar stumbles out of the elevator. "Well that worked out great. We should get through the stone block easily enough if we work together but let's let the gas settle first ok?"
Istvan agrees. We should test everything before proceeding. We sould also place the lanterns in the correct positions and ensure they are lit. Perhaps more than just the three positions will function.
The magics on the sarcophagus worry Istvan though. I don't think all the lanterns should be be lit simultaneously.
"I don't know how to deal with traps so I can't really help you deal with the gas situation. If you want to try to push the stone so we can bypass it that might work. The fact that the area is trapped makes me think something valuable is down there. I would also presume anything else of value will also be dangerous. The question from my point of view is do handle this elevator now or later?"
"Now that the gas is out, let's go down and move that stone", says Talia. "We can try the other lanterns after we have explored that bit."
"Ok." Elvar leaves of the sarcophagus and heads back to the elevator.
Istvan agrees. Since Elvar has taken care of the trap, we should explore that venue first. Istvan will not be riding the elevator the same time as Elvar though.
You all descend down the elevator beneath the yellow lantern. With some effort you all manage to work together to topple the great stone block. It crashes to the ground with a deafening boom that echos in the subterranean halls for a long time.
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. You tense expecting a trap, but nothing happens.
Walking down the corridor you notice that the flanking statues seem to be offering something, though their hands are now empty, and you begin to suspect that you might not be the first explorer to walk this path.
As you move closer to the end of the hallway, the air begins to grow unnaturally cold until you can see your breath and bigin to shiver.
What initially looked like a T junction actually is a huge stone pillar in the middle of a single room. Paths lead around it to the left and right, and the coldness appears to be emanating from the right side.
As I am walking...
Perception check taking 10=20
edit:This is for when we start moving down the hallway.
"Ok..." Elvar draws out with a shiver. "Cold to the right, not so cold to the left. What'd'ya say guys? Left?"
"That sounds reasonable to me. I am curious about what is causing the cold, though..."
"I admit I am curious too, just not deadly so... I just want to see what's out the other way before we head into something strange. If I'm being overly cautious just say the word."
I would still prefer to have a look first to the right and not leave something that could harm us behind.
Investigating the east side of the room reveals a wide arch in the eastern wall leading to another side chamber. This side of the pillar has a small alcove carved into it, though it is currently filled with a column of stone that appears to have descended from the ceiling. More bizzarre still is that protruding from the base of this stone column are a pair of desiccated legs.
Parnel walks over to the legs and investigates them. Hector sniffs at them disinterestedly.
Heal Check
"Wonder how long this bloaks been here"?
"Based on the fact that he has been naturally mummified, I dare say that he has been here a while...", Harold notes wryly. "Still, we should be careful; if for no other reason than that we now know there are a lot of traps in this complex..."
Agreed, we should proceed very carefully. Istvan has no desire to take this gentlemans place.