The creature swerves from Kephry to attack Zelda.
You can tell by looking at the creature that it's heavily damaged. It's heaving sand everywhere.
Malavine and Hickle's actions.
Tought little critter, isn't it? Malavine drew another Starknife - thankfully she carried a lot of the things - and hurled it again.
Malavine's starknife slices into the sand creature, and it finally drops into a pile of inanimate sand. Our heroes look on for a few seconds waiting for a revival, but it seems to be truly dead. The stairs down are unobstructed.
"Marvelous, truly marvelous..."
Hickle approaches the remains, before clapping his hands over his person in search of something. He eventually pulls out a container, and scoops portions of the sand inside while examining the rest of it. Was there some animating force inside? Did it truly exist as spontaneous living sand? He even investigates the tunnels somewhat, he just had to know!
As the creature drops, Kephr's increased prowess obviously dropping as she rests on her weapon.
Marvelous is one word for it, I guess, the cat says as she catches her breath, deadly is the word I'd use. Could really take a hit too.
Would anyone like to do anything else in the stairs, or would you like to continue to the doors at the bottom? Or something else?
Retrieving her Starknives, Malavine headed down the stairs and to the door, giving it a quick once over.
Malavine notices nothing odd about the door.
Nor does Hickle.
Entering the room (seem map link in Campaign Info), you see a tapestry hangs from a frame against the south wall of this large chamber. It depicts an otherworldly vista where the souls of the dead, shepherded by strange beings, enter an ethereal river ambling through space toward a landscape dominated by an impossibly tall spire. Columns sculpted in the shape of Osirian warriors wielding khopeshes stand in all four corners of
the room. The floor is tiled in a white spiral pattern on a black background, and this spiral pattern is repeated on the stone double doors to the north, east, and west.
Malavine looked over at the others. "So," she asked cheerfully, "Does anyone feel like carrying the tapestry out? I'll need a little magical help before I can start doing stuff like that."
Hickle observes the tapestry for a moment, intrigued, but finds his attention more drawn to the carved columns instead. "Marvelous! I really do wish I could've met the architects of this tomb. The time, effort, and love they put into their work... Truly, this was a great hero to their people."
Malavine looked over at the others. "So," she asked cheerfully, "Does anyone feel like carrying the tapestry out? I'll need a little magical help before I can start doing stuff like that."
Shmick tilts his head to observe the work of art, "Ꭵf ᏆhᎬ bᎥᎾᏞᎾᎶᎥᏟᎪᏞs ᎳᎾuᏞᎠ fᎥᏁᎠ ᏆhᎬ ᏢᏒᎥᏟᎬ ᎥᏆ ᎳᎾuᏞᎠ fᎬᏆᏟh ᏆᎾ ᏆhᎬᎥᏒ ᏞᎥᏦᎥᏁᎶ, ᏆhᎬᏁ Ꭵ'ᏞᏞ ᏒᎬmᎾᏉᎬ ᎥᏆ. Ꭵ ᎳᎾuᏞᎠ ᎪᏞsᎾ ᎪᏢᏒᎥᏟᎪᏆᎬ hᎪᏉᎥᏁᎶ sᎾmᎬ Ꮎf mᎽ ᎾᎳᏁ ᏟᎾᎥᏁ ᏆᎾ sᏢᎬᏁᎠ fᎾᏒ ᎾᏁᏟᎬ."
I can try to help pull it down as well, Kephry adds to Shmick's offer, already looking for the best way to carefully take it down, something this pretty shouldn't be stuck down in a tomb for all time.
Getting the tapestry down is no problem. It's a little cumbersome to carry, but ideally you won't be down here much longer and will be able to unload this stuff soon. This guy can't have been able to afford to build too much more of this.
You now have exits to the west and to the north to choose from.
Hicklespurn takes a couple minutes to examine the doors, tracing the seems and searching for any hidden triggers or switches. He even goes so far as to press his ear against the door, listening to the other side. He doesn't want a repeat of his earlier carelessness.
Neither door appears to be trapped in any fashion, as far as Hickle can tell. There is some scratching noise barely audible behind the west door, however.
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Payn nods at Malavine. "Gratitude for the healing. It is small and fleeting, but so is all life, so do not worry about," she says in her small, monotone voice.
"You are good at war," she adds.
That done, she goes over to the West door and opens it, satisfied that Hicklespurn has made it safe to open.
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Hickle turns around to address the group at the same time that Payn aproachs it, missing her completely. "The doors seem to be untrapped, but I heard some sort of scratching noice from behind the-"
The young girl opening the door interrupted his thoughts, and he slowly turned to watch with a dull expression. "West door."
"Ꭵf Ꭵ Ꭺm ᏆuᏒᏁᎬᎠ ᎥᏁᏆᎾ sᏟᏒᎪᏢ bᎬᏟᎪusᎬ Ꮎf ᏆhᎥs fᎥᎶhᏆ, ᏞᎬᏆ ᏆhᎬ ᏒᎬᏟᎾᏒᎠ shᎾᎳ ᏆhᎪᏆ shᎬ ᎳᎪs ᏒᎬsᏢᎾᏁsᎥbᏞᎬ." The construct says, while readying his crossbow arm at the door.
Behind the doors is a smallish room that seems partly unfinished. A set of narrow stairs leads downward. At the top of the steps, reflected in the part's light source, stand two very large beetles (as in large for beetles; size small, not size large).
Current Initiative:
Initiative:
Zelda:
Payn:
Kephry:
Miner Beetles:
Malavine:
Hickle:
Faster than anyone can react, the beetles charge the door, attacking Payn and Hickle as they stand there.
On Payn:
On Hickle:
A clean miss on Payn, but one gouges into Hickle pretty good.
"This raises disturbing and curious questions about how the eco-system works down here," Malavine commented as she drew a Starknife. "I mean, what are they eating to get so big, and where do they find it?"
"Agh, escaping! I'm not cut out for the up close in personal-!" He shouts, as he withdraws from the beetle. "We'll have to talk bout that in more depth later, once we're not being threatened by mandibles."
Shmick's posture straightens when he sees his master injured, and he approaches closer with determination before firing.
Kephry runs up next to the beetle that attacked Hickle, trying to distract it from its current prey and have it focus on her instead.
Top of Round 2
The standing creature attacks Kephry.
5 HP damage to Kephry.
Party may now act.
"We're doing traps now?" Looking slightly confused, and wincing as poor Kephry got hit again, Malavine stepped up behind the Catfolk and laid a hand on her shoulder.
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Zelda rips the first beetle to shreds. The one nearest Hickle is still up, however.
Rest of party's actions.
While Hickle tries to get his bearings, and fishes for his own weapon, Shmick tries to continue his assault.
Kephry's action. One beetle is out of commission; the other, nearest Kephry, is damaged.
Kephry nods a quick thank you to Malavine before striking out at the beetle again, hoping to return the ire it so graciously gave her.
With a powerful blow, Kephry puts the second mining beetle to its final rest.
This area appears to be an unfinished wing of the tomb. There are stairs leading down, but they lead only to a solid rock wall. After searching diligently, the heroes find no other exit from this room.
"That's...odd. Did they run out of money, or is something hidden behind that wall?" Malavine tapped on the wall, looking for any clues.
"Hmmm... Curious."
Hickle, not feeling pressed for time, takes a few minutes to examine the area.
It does, indeed, look like they ran out of money, no secret doors to be had.
On a side note, you do find where the mining beetles entered the room. There is a two-foot wide ovular tunnel at the base of the steps, leading downward and away from the tomb. So I guess there is that option as well, if anyone wants to crawl through bug tunnels.
"I don't think they'll have much worth taking," Malavine murmured dryly as her odd eyes focused on the tunnel. "Let's head for that North door instead, for now." She headed back to the nearest set of North facing doors and, assuming no traps or monsters, headed through.
The northern doors appear to be locked, but Malavine detects no traps on them.
Payn sends a few frost bolts down the bug holes, hoping she'd get lucky. After a few tosses and not hearing any bug screams of anguish she gives up and heads over to the northern door, waiting for someone to unlock it.
Evidently, there are no more bugs anywhere near the tunnel entrances. Payn joins Malavine at the northern doors.
Malavine tapped the doors. "Locked." Taking a look, she tried to work out how to unlock it.
Hickle stands by patiently while he let's the oracle try her hand, though ultimately failing. "Very good attempt, but you were using the hook when should've went for the pick. Here, let me give this a shot, yes? Hickle my boy, please be at the ready."
"ᎽᎾu ᏒᎬᎪᏞᏞᎽ sᎾ ᎥᏁᏟᎾmᏢᎬᏆᎬᏁᏆ ᎪᏆ ᏆhᎥs ᏆhᎪᏆ ᎽᎾu ᏒᎬquᎥᏒᎬ mᎽ hᎬᏞᏢ ᏆhᎬᏁ? Ꭵ shᎾuᏞᎠ hᎪᏉᎬ ᎬxᏢᎬᏟᏆᎬᎠ suᏟh." The construct replies, though complying and kneeling nearby to lend aid.
Kephry giggles quietly at the attempts of the lady, gnome, and machine at unlocking the door, but doesn't offer any assistance of her own considering her somewhat limited skill set.
EVENTUALLY, the two manage to get the door open. A set of stairs leads down to another set of double doors. Hickle believes this to be a positive sign the heroes are nearing the burial chamber. A second set of stairs leads to more double doors, marked with symbols that indicate this may be the final resting place of Akhentepi.
Hickle Perception on the doors:
Hickle is fairly certain there are no traps on this door. Opening the final doors, the party sees before them a large octagonal room (map in campaign info updated).
The center of this large room is a raised square platform a few inches above the floor, with a stone pillar at each corner.A sarcophagus covered in gold leaf rests on the platform, flanked by two statues of humanoid beings with canine heads, each of which holds an ankh in one of its crossed arms. The casket’s cover is carved the likeness of an adult man with his arms crossed over his chest, and covered in thick coat of dust. Stone double doors exit the room to the north and south (the one you just came in from).
"So not the final tomb, but one guarding the way to the rest of the place." Malavine glanced at the statues, and began to detect magic. Somehow she felt like something would be coming to life and attacking, and she didn't really want to be in the line of fire when it did happen.