Soon all the chests are open, and each, while lit from the inside with some diffuse magical light that matches the outside color, appears totally empty.
Tekk shrugs and waves a hand at the empty chests. "Why would they secure and trap and magically lock empty chests? It makes no sense!"
His voice echoes in the tomb, down the passageway.
Shalina had come too far to accept that the chests were empty. She pulls out a crossbow bolt. Trying to keep the edge of desperation out of her voice she says, "Maybe they just appear empty." She takes her bolt and sticks it into one of the chests to see if it touches anything other than the sides of the chest.
Shalina gently pokes into the chest with the crossbow bolt. Instantly the red light flashes, angrily and she hears a small click. Faster then she can move, hot molten gold shoots out from the bottom of the chest and across the floor.
Tiny, unnoticed grooves lead it right toward her.
Instantly Tekk heaves her away, but some of the molten gold sticks and burns her.
He wipes it off, ignoring his own burns. 'Are you all right?"
Shalina's heart was pounding and the adrenaline coursing through her body caused her to barely notice her burns. "I'm definitely better because of your quick reflexes. I guess the chests aren't so empty after all. I need to take a closer look at the other two before trying that again."
The other chests look exactly same, apparently empty of all items.
The red chest though, the illusion is broken and Shalina can see several small glass bottles inside. The chest is still surrounded by a moat of bubbling hot gold though.
Tekk mutters a prayer and his rough callused hand touches Shalina's shoulder. A rush of warmth flows through her and several of her burns heal instantly.
Shalina sighed in thanks as Tekk's healing cooled some of her burns. "That feels much better, thanks."
"Are you up for me checking the other ones? Neither of the other two have those grooves so hopefully there won't be more fire. I figure I might as well check the others while this gold solidifies so I can get closer. Either that or we abandon the chests all together and we see if there's anything of interest in the sarcophagus."
tag Tekk
Tekk looks at Shalina, "You'd violate the sarcophagus?" he sounds shocked, "The items and treasure are one thing, worthy of examination and study but actually defile the dead of the past?"
"Let's stick to the chests."
"Not defile, just look. I have no desire to disturb their rest but I am looking for something specific. But I'll stick to the chests."
Taking another crossbow bolt, Shalina cautiously approaches the green chest. "Ready to be my savior again? Hopefully Toth isn't as wrathful as Ra." With Tekk on guard, Shalina pokes her bolt into the chest and feels around to see if there is anything inside that isn't visible to her eyes.
As she pokes inside, she hears a tiny click as the crossbolt touches something. Instantly the chest pulses green and Shalina feels a waft of foul smelling gas erupt from the chest.
Tekk reels, coughing and hacking.
He seems to recover quickly, moving back to help Shalina.
Shalina gags as the gas attacks her face.
Wisdom: Damage to your Wisdom score causes you to take penalties on Wisdom-based skill checks and Will saving throws. This penalty also applies to any spell DCs based on Wisdom. A character with a Wisdom score of 0 is incapable of rational thought and is unconscious.
"How do you feel?" Tekk asks worriedly.
Shalina blinks at the paladin looking slightly dazed. "My head feels a little fuzzy, things don't seem so clear. But my body feels fine or at least the same as it did a moment ago."
Tekk frowns and says, "Let me open the next one, please?"Although he will rely on Shalina to actually pick the lock.
Meanwhile, the green chest's illusion is broken and Shalina can see rolls of parchment inside.
Shalina gave Tekk a half-smile. "If you insist then I won't stop you but I'll try to make it as safe as possible. If you trust me, that is."
Seeing the parchment inside the chest she says, "See. Not empty." Looking for additional traps, Shalina reaches in for the rolled paper.
Shalina looks inside, sees no traps. She does see inside the box, and sees how the traps work. Inside, the interior is set on tiny wheels, allowing it to rolla nd shift against the outer stone. The slightest touch moves it, and setting off the trap.
She sees rolls of parchment. Some of them look like cargo or shipping lists while one or two are clearly diaries or memoirs. All are sealed with the sign of the ancient Pharaohs.
The purple chest seems to be filled with spiderwebs, very fine and very dense. They catch the light and seem to suck it in.
Shalina opens the purple chest with Tekk's help and sees the spiderwebs. "Great. Why can't it ever be puppies or feathers?"
The cobwebs appear to just be cobwebs. She doesn't see any spiders though.
The parchments are old and fragile but Shalina carefully collects them and empties the green chest. The red chest is still surrounded by a thin moat of bubbling gold.
"Maybe that gold will finally have solidified by the time we're done with the last chest and we can finally see what was in the red chest."
Using what she learned from the green chest, Shalina attempts to disable the mechanism in the purple chest. Being an archaeologist, she was no stranger to spider webs but that didn't mean she liked poking around in them. Shalina focuses on making sure the inside box doesn't hit the sides of the chest as she jams it to make sure it can't move.
Interestingly, there appears to be no inner box on this one. Shalina does her best to disable it, even if it is somehow disguised.
Confusion colors Shalina's face as she attempts to disable the expected trap in the last chest. "Just when I thought I had it figured out," she mused. "I can't seem to find the inner box on this one but why would they build them all differently?" Not feeling completely confident in her abilities, she pulls out another crossbow bolt. "I think I may have disabled it but I'm not sure. So I'll use this to clear away the spider webs and see what happens."
To her shock, the 'cobwebs' shear the crossbow bolt in half, with her hardly touching them. They are very tight, very well disguised razor wire! Anyone who attempted to brush them aside would lose a hand at least.
Tekk whistles and leans in. "I can probably remove them with my sword, shall I?"
Shalina looks at her half of a crossbow bolt with surprise and relief. "I've never been so happy to have a bolt destroyed." When Tekk offers to use his sword she says, "As long as it doesn't destroy your sword because it seems like a special weapon."
Tekk nods, 'It is. It has been in my family for generations. Dwarven made. It'll handle a few razors."
With ease he draws the glittering sword and quickly brushes the razorwire aside, slicing them easily. The sword is unharmed as he sheathes it.
Inside is only a large silver key, bigger then Shalina's hand.
Shalina pulls out the key. "These items are so random. Did you see any lock that would fit such a key?"
She looks back at the first chest to see if she could get close enough to it now that the gold had had a chance to cool.
Under the key, Shalina finds, cunningly hidden, rolls and rolls of fabric. She instantly recognizes them as mummy wrappings. these must have been the leftovers after wrapping the Pharaoh.
It all falls into place in Shalina's mind. Storing the unused wrappings was custom, as well as saving the deceased letters and diaries. The ledgers were probably records of the treasure and other items stored below, in the hoards below. The red chest then, in the jaws, probably contained the Pharaoh's organs, carefully preserved seperatly.
The key is a mystery until Tekk speaks up, 'The sarcophagus has a keyhole. A silver one, just like the key." and, with Tekk pointing it out, there is a large keyhole, slightly hidden by the design of the burial coffin.
"And you're ok with me trying the key in the keyhole? I don't mean to disturb the sarcophagus in any way but it looks like it may be necessary."
Tekk considers then says carefully, "Leaving as key obviously means they considered the possibility. I don't know why, but you'd seal it if you intended it to last forever."
Shalina takes his words as consent to proceed. She quickly studies the lock to make sure that it isn't booby-trapped before inserting the key and opening the lock.
There are no signs of traps.
Shalina inserts the silver key and it clicks in home, instantly. A moment passes in silent, then she sees the melting gold drain away.Like milk out of a glass, it recedes under the sarcophagus, leaving behind a clear crystal layer.
gently, the lid opens, pulling back on ancient ball bearings. It reveals the outer ceremonial wrappings of the mummy. The linens are bright, almost painfully white, mixed with sweet-smelling perfumes and leaves, long turned to dust. Jewels and gold are also interwoven into it, providing a dazzling display of wealth and power. There is nothing other then the body inside.
Even though the sight revealed to the archaeologist was awe-inspiring, she couldn't keep the look of disappointment off her face. "The item I was tasked to find doesn't appear to be here.". Looking at Tekk she asks tentatively, "Is it ok if I just take a look around the perimeter of the mummy to see if there is something more below?"
Shalina detects not hidden panels, secret magical illusions or anything of that nature. Just a very old, very well-preserved body.
Shalina notes Tekk praying a several times, when he thinks she isn't looking.
Inside the red chest, she finds bottles labled in anicent Osrion for liver, heart, ectera.
Mixed in, is also a flash of acid, a bottle of quickfreeze oil and two bottles of alchemical glue.
Shalina doesn't want to disturb the body any longer. Hoping that the key will lock the sarcophagus again, she turns the key. "I think the key may be safest with us. Now that there are no longer the razor wire protecting it, it would be best if we take it."
Taking the items from the red chest, Shalina stows them in her bag. "I didn't find the item here and was told that it may not be with the Pharaoh so I'll need to keep looking. Are you up for some more exploring?"
Shalina makes sure that everything is back in place, more or less, before they close up the room. She makes sure that it won't be easily accessed by less respectful looters.
[ooc] Do you feel it was a waste of time, or not? I originally didn't plan on you even going here, but after the fight scenes, I wanted some Indian Jones style trap stuff. Thoughts?"[/b]
As Shalina is preparing to leave, the ground outside the gold-room shakes and twists. Suddenly, fluid as a swimmer, the earth elemental rises out of the solid stone, not displacing a inch of it.
Behind, is a smaller, pure black earth elemental, twisted with green eyes. The smaller one bows and says in rough, gravelly Common.
'Greetings, tomb finder." the voice is hard to read, but not threatening. 'I speak for my friend here, who does not understand your tongue."
Tekk looks from Shalina to the earth elemental and back, obviously stunned. he does keep his sword sheathed though.
Shalina wasn't familiar with the proper etiquette for talking with elementals. She is surprised that it had come back and brought a friend. Tekk obviously shares her feelings but the archaeologist is glad that he keeps his weapon alone. Bowing slightly to mirror their actions and to show respect to the outsiders, she says, "Are you free now? Did we guess correctly that you were being kept against your will?"
The black elemental nods, 'Indeed. Even for our kind, he spent a long time here, trapped against his will. He is happy you broke the spell, binding him to this place and protecting it."
He lifts up a rough stone bracelet, 'He wishes to give you this." he offers the bracelet. 'It will provide you some of the studryness of our kind, to match your strong spirit."
He lowers his gravelly voice, 'It is a kingly gift. I have never seen one given before."
Shalina bows low and reverently takes the bracelet, recognizing that this didn't happen very often. In fact, she had never heard of an elemental giving a human a gift. "I am honoured that you would deem me worthy to bestow such a gift on me. I will treasure it always."
For a brief instant, as Shalina grabs the bracelet it is heavy. Heavy as a great rock, a boulder, heavy as mountains. Then it subsides, and is a mere ornament, nothing special or even very pretty.
The large elemental utters a long trail of rough words. The black elemental nods and says 'That is a farewell in our tongue. Roughly, it translate that to 'be firm in life and unyielding in spirit.' I wish it upon you as well. Goodbye, tomb-finder." With nothing else the elemental's vanish into the stonework.
Tekk lets out a explosive breath. "Toth, that was amazing!" He cranes his neck at the bracelet. 'Do you feel any different?'
Shalina models the bracelet so that Tekk can get a better look while she seriously considers his question. Do I feel different?. "I...I don't think so. I am truly at a loss for words for what we just experienced. Amazing doesn't seem grand enough. My uncle will never believe me. It's a good thing I have a witness because the bracelet looks unremarkable. He'd probably accuse me of picking it up somewhere in the market and spinning tales.". Then an unpleasant thought occurred to her. "Do I look any different?
Tekk squints at Shalina, the worn weathered face crinkling. "You don't look any different. Maybe it takes time? Or maybe it is just symbolic? Who knows. "
The paladon shrugs, 'It is the hands of the gods. Where to next, 'tomb-finder'?" he says, with a bit of satire in his voice.
"Tomb-finder...I like it. It has a nice ring to it. Way better than tomb-raider. As to where to next, we'll keep exploring. I'm still looking for something that I was tasked to find. It is probably in another treasure hoard. If you're up for it, we'll continue on the way we were headed when we came upon this burial tomb."