After their morning exercises are finished, Cuetzpalli munches on some trail rations. "I think we should try use Erip's oil to light the indigo lantern and put it in the right spot, to see if anything happens. If not, we can turn the dial to the orange lantern and see if another of those door tubes pops up. If so, it presumably leads somewhere. The red lantern would still be missing, but it might be in here somewhere..." Cuetzpalli muses to the group.
Tanith gives the olman a sweaty clap on the shoulder. "And now that we've prayed, the Brawler is certain to watch over our quest."
After breaking his fast on some mead and a bit of trail ration, Tanith casts a spell to preserve Erep's remains, dresses, and straps his armor back on. "Let's get going. We have a cairn to explore."
Cuetzpalli gets ready to go as well, hoping the others will have some feedback on his suggestion.
Cuetzpalli will check to see if the orange lantern has oil in it.
"Sounds as good as any suggestion Cuetzpalli. We don't really have anything to go on, though I'm hoping that the lights don't just unleash progressively worse things."
The lanterns are all dark, containing nothing within.
Cuetzpalli will hang the indigo lantern in the correct spot and then put some of Erip's lamp oil in the orange lantern and light it, then step back quickly to a safe distance to observe . He commands Spiny to stay with Tanith while he does this.
The green lantern has burned all through the night and shows no signs of waning.
The orange lantern glows dimly for a short time, and the reflections on the shiny ceiling get a bit more elaborate. Otherwise, it has no effect.
Careful to avoid the hole that the beetles came out of, Cuetzpalli goes to examine what is inside the green lantern.
Cuetzpalli finds that what resembles an ordinary torch has been stuck inside the lantern. The torch's flames look just a bit off, and they release no smoke.
"Interesting. Should we try switching that to the next lantern in line and then pushing the dais again?"
"Hopefully no more of them have monsters in them", Tanith grunts.
The group tries lighting different lanterns, but there seems to be no difference between the green lantern being lit and any other color. Pretty colors emanate from the ceiling.
When they place the sarcophagus back pointing at the orange lantern, nothing happens.
Point it at yellow then.
"On to yellow, then."
As before, the sarcophagus ticks into the slot to point at the yellow lantern.
A moment later, there is a great rumbling from down below. Slowly, a five-foot diameter circular stone beneath the yellow lantern rises, pushed up by a metal cylinder that seems to arise from the ground itself.
Seconds after, two thin doors slide into the sides of the cylinder, revealing a small empty chamber.
"Well your mom taught you good", Tanith replies with a big smile while flexing his arm again. "I didn't know my parents as well."
Carina looks down, her cheeks turning a darker shade of red. A small, embarrassed smile is on her face.
"Thank you, Carina," Cuetzpalli says to the alchemist. "I raised Spiny from the egg. I grew up in a place where dinosaurs are common. He's still a baby. A full grown Spinosaurus is as big as a house."
Carina's eyes widen at the mention of how big Spiny can get.
"Wow... to be honest, I never knew that much about dinosaurs."
"Carina, I think I can say with no exaggeration that we'd all be dead without you."
Carina beams at Farrukh. "Thanks. I was hoping I wouldn't be useless on this trip."
---------------------Carina goes to bed early to prepare extracts and new bombs.
The next morning, she rises and watches Tanith & the others exercise. Her tail twitches.
---------------------
She's quiet while the others experiment with the lantern rooms, marveling at how the secret rooms were built.
Robin nods from afar, sitting next to Bermintrude and examining his pack. "I think we're out of our league somewhat, Bermy." He mutters quietly. "Next time there's trouble, we charge in."
"Lets go down?"
Cuetzpalli goes to look inside the tube device under the yellow lantern.
Tanith cocks an eyebrow. "You want us to squeeze in there?"
Carina follows 10 feet behind Cuetzpalli, eyes looking all about for danger.
Farrukh also scans the inside of the small chamber, looking for anything of interest.
The chamber is empty, but seems safe.
When Cuetzpalli steps inside, he hears a faint click. The doors immediately slam closed.
The entire contraption lowers into the ground. The stone "cap" locks back into place when it goes flush with the floor, but the rest of the apparatus continues downward.
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 Cuetzpalli. Many extend their hands in adoration, their faces wash in adulation. Several of the statues lack arms, or hands, or heads--or anything else easily hacked off by desperate grave robbers.
About fifteen feet to the south, a dark passage extends from an elaborately carved arch. Only a little of this hallway is visible, however, as a large stone block obscured most of the passage.
Carina leaps back in surprise when the doors shut around the Olman.
"Cuetzpalli!"
She has no idea what to do next.
"Oh my heavens..."
Cuetzpalli steps out of the elevator. A moment later, the cylinder shoots back up.
After a moment, the cylinder rises back up and opens again.
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Tanith curses and rushes forward when the cylinder closes around the olman. The big suel pounds on the door. "Cuetzpalli! Say something!"
When it opens a moment later, he steps back in shock and looks toward the others. "Do you think it ate him?"
Carina starts hyperventilating. Her tail starts lashing about wildly.
Oh no oh no not another one not again not again not again
"..."
She looks inside the chamber, looking for signs of blood or saliva or anything that might indicate if Cuetzpalli was eaten.
"Please tell me we haven't lost someone to an evil DOOR."
Cuetzpalli waits patiently at the bottom of the shaft for the others to use their imaginations. Ignorant savages, he thinks to himself, hoping that Spiny will follow one of them down.
Carina creeps into the cylinder, still looking for signs of Cuetzpalli.
This might not have been the best of ideas.
Carina starts hyperventilating. Her tail starts lashing about wildly.
Oh no oh no not another one not again not again not again
"..."
She looks inside the chamber, looking for signs of blood or saliva or anything that might indicate if Cuetzpalli was eaten.
[dice=Perception]1d20+5
[dice=Survival (Untrained)]1d20+1
Carina does notice something red. It's probably just rust, though.
The moment she steps into the chamber, the doors slam shut and the cylinder shoots down.
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 deferencer. Many extend their hands in adoration, their faces wash in adulation. Several of the statues lack arms, or hands, or heads--or anything else easily hacked off by desperate grave robbers.
About fifteen feet to the south, a dark passage extends from an elaborately carved arch. Only a little of this hallway is visible, however, as a large stone block obscured most of the passage.
Cuetzpalli stands right outside the elevator, watching.
Tanith resumes cursing and tries hacking at the mechanism with his poleaxe. "Spit her out beast!"
When the doors open, she sees Cuetzpalli just standing there in front of all the statues, not looking the slightest bit disturbed.
"...I look like an idiot right now, don't I?" Her cheeks turn maroon.
"You do? I didn't notice. Are the others coming down?" he asks. "Do you know who these people were?" he wonders, pointing to the carvings.
When the chamber opens again, Tanith hurls himself in - still wildly swinging. "If I'm gunna see Ysgard today, I'm sending you to hell first!"
Carina steps out of the cylinder.
"I'm... not sure. Let me think..." She takes a closer look at the statues.
When Carina steps out, the elevator shoots back up. Shortly after, Tanith comes down, and the rest eventually follow--though Bermintrude has to squeeze to fit.
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 deferencer. Many extend their hands in adoration, their faces wash in adulation. Several of the statues lack arms, or hands, or heads--or anything else easily hacked off by desperate grave robbers.
About fifteen feet to the south, a dark passage extends from an elaborately carved arch. Only a little of this hallway is visible, however, as a large stone block obscured most of the passage.
Carina doesn't have any firm idea. The adventurers do notice a button nearby the elevator; experimentation reveals that this button recalls the elevator to their location.
"Well, Kordson, shall we see if we are strong enough to move this stone?" Cuetzpalli asks the big Suel.
"Nope. Sorry, got nothing." Carina turns away from the statues.
She eyes the stone block rather critically.
By the time the lift reaches the bottom and the doors open, Tanith's worked up quite a sweat. He lowers his weapon and frowns in disbelief when the purpose of the chamber works itself out in the big man's simple mind. "You're alive!" he shouts happily.
Despite the effort expended attacking the harmless elevator, Tanith replies with a toothy grin at Cuet's challenge. "By the Brawler we will easily move such a small stone!"
Cuetzpalli pushes hard, but he will need help.
How convenient would THAT be if it was everywhere?
Farrukh thinks after he makes it to the bottom, but quickly shakes off his wonderment to help with moving the boulder.