"I'm trying to take that orb out of there...maybe stand back a bit, Saeri?", Janus calmly stated as she sheated his Falcata and reached for the sphere.
Janus felt a slight resistance against his fingers as they closed about the sphere, but it otherwise came out of the lantern without any trouble. Free from its green casing, its fire proved a cold white with just a slight blue tinge.
Saeri was not a needlessly reckless person, and had no problem stepping back when someone asked her to do so. (Some might have thought she was a doormat... but picking fights just because you could was rarely the smart thing to do. She preferred to think of it simply as being prudent.)
More to the point, what was the hand doing here...? It was probably newer than the rest of the tomb, suggesting whoever was here before them had left it behind... but why?
Chaïa continued to poke around for a bit, before announcing, “I can’t see anything particularly sinister about this thing, but then again, that might not be worth all that much, honestly. As near as I can figure out, the entire dais might be able to rotate, but unless there’s hidden magic at work, it would have to be by brute force. And look at this glyph here – now that Janus has jogged our minds a bit, if this is Auran, it’s probably a name, but not the same one as on the mirror, and at a guess, based on the sculpture, that might mean this tomb is for a djinn.”
She looked across the sarcophagus at Janus and asked the young man, “Didn’t you say you found a stone finger in the wolves’ lair? Why not see if it fits? Whoever this was, the poor fellow’s gone through enough without his statue suffering.”
Watching the sphere for a moment, waiting if it decides to explode or do something else, nasty, Janus relaxes, smiles at Saeri:"Seems save enough...wanna take a closer look? Maybe you have an idea about this?", and returns to the center when Chaia calls out to them.
At her suggestion, he produces the marble index finger they found in the wolfs lair, and tries to place it on the statues hand:"Yeah, did find this thing here...looks like it will fit."
"Rotateable dais, hu?", Janus gives a whistle: "Fancy place, indeed. But lets finish surveillance before we try that...you found anything else, Lu?"
Lu lets out a sigh of relief as Janus doesn't join the skeleton in his condition. "No, nothing new over here." she reports back. "I'm going to take a closer look at our predecessor. Try not to awaken ze dead or anything meanwhile yeah?"
With that Lu carefully makes her way deeper into the hallway with the corpse. Ever vigilant as to not succumbing to the same fate, she had both her sword and a Detect Magic spell ready.
[dice=Linguistics]1d20+3
After some thought, Janus decides it must be Josiphel or Zosiel.
"I think that says...Zosiel? Or Josiphel? Hard to make out. Either name ring a bell for any of you ladies?" Bowing apologetically to Haytham a moment later when Haytham clears his throat:"Or sir, for that matter...you've been silent watching the Sarcophagus from over there, I did not mean to disrupt your concentration."
Saeri's studies... were actually fairly comprehensive. For many people, the planar realms were a problem too distant - and sometimes too unbelievable - to matter to their everyday lives. Still, she dealt with a lot of people and enjoyed study, and she was more familiar than most with a lot of obscure lore. That said, whether or not she knew the name in question...
[dice=Know Planes]1d20 + 8
Saeri's studies... were actually fairly comprehensive. For many people, the planar realms were a problem too distant - and sometimes too unbelievable - to matter to their everyday lives. Still, she dealt with a lot of people and enjoyed study, and she was more familiar than most with a lot of obscure lore. That said, whether or not she knew the name in question...
The name doesn't really stand out to Saeri, except for sounding quite archaic. She suspects that Zosiel is the more correct rendering.
Haytham looks up a moment when Janus addresses him before returning his gaze to the sarcophagus, "Zosiel or Josiphel?" He thought a few moments, perhaps a power or outsider?
Haytham looks up a moment when Janus addresses him before returning his gaze to the sarcophagus, "Zosiel or Josiphel?" He thought a few moments, perhaps a power or outsider?
[dice=Know:Religion]1d20+5
Haytham couldn't pin it down, but that didn't sound like a Power to him.
is the best we can do...
[dice=Heal on Dead Adventurer to find cause of death, assisting instead if somebody has a better non-dice skill value.]1d20+4
Janus gave the skeleton a look, but the broken bones told him no tales.
"He's dead, Lu!", Janus says looking up from the slumped skeletal body. When she raises an eyebrow, he adds:"I'm a warrior, not a doctor. I can do basic first aid, but unless I recently stabbed something, finding the cause of death is a bit harder...Bones are broken in multiple places, so I would guess blunt impacts of any sort. A bear hugging someone, a Morning Star, a fall, anything of the sort could be it...given the specific location, and lack of bears or blunt weaponry...", he shrugs "I'm not climbing up there."
"He's dead, Lu!", Janus says looking up from the slumped skeletal body. When she raises an eyebrow, he adds:"I'm a warrior, not a doctor. I can do basic first aid, but unless I recently stabbed something, finding the cause of death is a bit harder...Bones are broken in multiple places, so I would guess blunt impacts of any sort. A bear hugging someone, a Morning Star, a fall, anything of the sort could be it...given the specific location, and lack of bears or blunt weaponry...", he shrugs "I'm not climbing up there."
The pebble flew up and fell back down, illuminating the walls of the tunnel on the way. It seemed that they stood at the foot of a shaft that went considerably beyond the height of the tunnel. At the peak of the stone's journey, its flickering light showed that might be a ledge or tunnel leading away from the shaft high above.
"Gee zanks Elminster for your sagely insight." Lu replied, rolling her eyes in the gloom, but with a faint smile. Silly thing! "Oh zere is a ledge up zere. Hmm." she notes tapping her cheek.
"But let's safe zat for later, we have all zese silly lights to look at first." she decided and headed back towards the main chamber. "I suppose none of you brought a grapnel with you?"
Haytham smiled slightly, "Grapnel? No such luck I'm afraid. Though one would hope there was another way up there."
Saeri had many talents, but climbing was not particularly common among them. She could probably throw a rope with at least middling accuracy, though, especially if they tied it to a rock or something.
"Another way? If you speak Auran natively, chances are you can simply fly up there...other than that, there's magic for this sort of thing, too. But yeah, lets finish checking down here, first. There's a sarcophagus on rotating Dais waiting for us", Janus agreed with Lu, heading back to the main chamber.
A shaft with a ledge might have been interesting, but so were a good number of other things here that did not require him to climb up to deadly heights and risk falling to his death.
"Gee zanks Elminster for your sagely insight." Lu replied, rolling her eyes in the gloom, but with a faint smile. Silly thing! "Oh zere is a ledge up zere. Hmm." she notes tapping her cheek.
[dice=Climb]1d20+8
"But let's safe zat for later, we have all zese silly lights to look at first." she decided and headed back towards the main chamber. "I suppose none of you brought a grapnel with you?"
"Another way? If you speak Auran natively, chances are you can simply fly up there...other than that, there's magic for this sort of thing, too. But yeah, lets finish checking down here, first. There's a sarcophagus on rotating Dais waiting for us", Janus agreed with Lu, heading back to the main chamber.
A shaft with a ledge might have been interesting, but so were a good number of other things here that did not require him to climb up to deadly heights and risk falling to his death.
Janus stops at the Dais, looking at the completed Marble Statue, wondering if the broken off finger they replaced was simply a red hering, or was actually pointing somewhere or doing something.
"It is rotatable, you said...that would seem very fancy, unless there is some mechanism involved. Maybe it needs to be in a certain position to open it up without triggering some deadly trap...maybe we should simply give it a full rotation, and Lu keeps her ears to the stone, for some distinctive "click"-sounds or something of the sort."
Sheathing his Falcata and readjusting the Buckler, Janus gets in position to start pushing the sarcophagus, to rotate it clockwise, waiting for Haytham to take up position on the other end and other side of the stone block.
Haytham nodded to Janus and sheathed his blade to take up position; however, notably, he kept his shield in place and used it for additional leverage.
"Ready when you are."
Saeri thought about Janus' words for a moment, then prudently stepped well away from the sarcophagus - indeed, back towards the previous hall. Best to play it safe, no?
Chaïa skipped out of the way as they prepared to set to it. She gave one last look up towards the top of the chamber, regretfully shaking her head. "There are spells that would make the climb safer," she said quietly, "but I'm afraid I haven't had a chance to learn any yet."
"Meh. It didn't look so zough really - would just have been convenient noh." Lu shrugged, acting a bit more confident then she really felt. But that was a problem for future Lu, not-so-future-Lu would soon have to deal with whatever the fallout of the sarcophagus was. Kneeling down next to the dais she pressed the side of her head against the stone, angled so she could still keep an eye on Janus and Haytham. With a wave she announced "All right. I'm ready!"
//Yay
//Collaborative effort?
//Yay
//Collaborative effort?
Janus pushes hard. He was not the strongest person...in fact, his physical strenght was quite modest - he was used to compensating with agility, finesse, and wit. With the task at hand, that was of little use...but his desire not to stand there like a weakling asking one of the ladies to take his place helped him overcome his shortcomings.
With a few solid heaves, the sarcophagus rose ever so slightly and turned to point at the yellow tunnel. A great rumbling filled the chamber and a round plug of stone, as wide as a person's arms outstretched, rose from below the lantern. A metal cylinder just as wide pushed it up eight feet before both came to rest. An instant later, the sides of the cylinder slid open to show an empty room within.
"Huh." Who went through all that work to create an empty room? Correct answer: Nobody. Either something used to be in there, or maybe... "I wonder what would happen if someone got inside and we pushed it back."
As Chaïa watched the machinery in motion, visions of the possibilities for the unseen mechanisms that organized the whole complex danced in her head. Now, this was an interesting puzzle.
At Saeri’s suggestion, though, Chaïa raised an eyebrow archly. “Much as I’m all for an empirical approach…”
She let the words dangle for a second, than resigned herself. “Let me just take a quick look first, in case this is a very cruel box. If it looks safe, just give me a minute down there, and then bring me back up. Even if there is another level below, I doubt you’ll hear me through all that stone.”
"Huh." Lu exclaimed and lets out an impressed whistle. Staring at the metal cylinder in amazement she added. "Weren't expecting zat. And you want to go down with it Chaïa? Good luck!"
Chaïa finds nothing of concern in the cylinder. Its walls were thick enough that probably only one person could fit within it at a time when the doors shut. She stepped within and the doors instantly shut, plunging her into darkness. She felt her innards lurch as the grinding of stone on stone began again and the cylinder descended. Those without saw the chamber slide back into the floor, the stone cap resuming its place some time before the grinding ceased.
Once her descent ceased, Chaïa felt the air move as the doors slid open. She had the sense of being in a larger space, but in the darkness she could see nothing.
"Huh." Lu exclaimed and lets out an impressed whistle. Staring at the metal cylinder in amazement she added. "Weren't expecting zat. And you want to go down with it Chaïa? Good luck!"
"...Pretty sure we should try to bring her back up as quickly as possible." Saeri, trying to sound less surprised than she was that it had actually worked. If Lucrecia said it was safe, they could start investigating in more detail.
When the cylinder closed around Chaia and sunk back into the floor, Janus felt...anxiety, of a sort. The elf wanted this, but still...
"Actually, give her the minute she asked for. It would be interesting if she has a means to return on her own at her disposal. Otherwise we'll have to split up with some of us remaining behind...besides, I have no idea except to rotate it back and forth again - and that could cause trouble if she means to take a look and the doors close on her while she's sticking her head out."
Chaïa conjured light and found herself standing in the cylinder still, but with its doors open on a room about twenty feet across, its walls covered with bas-relief carving of figures similar to the one on the sarcophagus above. Nearly a dozen of them stood in poses of deference, as if paying homage to her. Many reached out their arms in adulation, faces aglow. Many also lacked arms, hands, heads, or anything else that might have projected far enough out to easily hack away.
About fifteen feet to the south, a dark passage extended back from an elaborately carved arch. She could scarcely see the passage, for the large stone block which nearly close it off.
As soon as the doors slid open to reveal another level below, Chaïa began to count seconds under her breath. Sweeping her gaze over the statues, she kept one eye open for anything special or that might give her an idea of what happened here. Something’s come through here, and not very subtly, she thought. Knowing she had only a few moments, she made up her mind to make the best of them, and made a beeline for the arch to the south. Another couple of heartbeats to examine the carvings, and then she peered through the narrow gap for a hint as to what lay beyond, her elven eyes making the most of the little light her cantrip provided.
As soon as the doors slid open to reveal another level below, Chaïa began to count seconds under her breath. Sweeping her gaze over the statues, she kept one eye open for anything special or that might give her an idea of what happened here. Something’s come through here, and not very subtly, she thought. Knowing she had only a few moments, she made up her mind to make the best of them, and made a beeline for the arch to the south. Another couple of heartbeats to examine the carvings, and then she peered through the narrow gap for a hint as to what lay beyond, her elven eyes making the most of the little light her cantrip provided. [dice=Perception]1d20+1
The carvings revealed no surprises to Chaïa. She had great trouble getting a good view past the huge stone; it looked to her like the best thing to do would be to climb on top and look down, but that would take time and probably some squeezing.
Closer to home, she found a stone button fixed in the wall, in the rough shape of the sarcophagus above and pointing heavenward.
Pressing the button returned Chaïa to the sacrophagus level with the normal amount of rumbling. She arrived unharmed and in apparent possession of all her wits and major organs.
"I'm impressed." Lu noted dully and relaxed a little, for the first time since entering this strange place. "Almost expected you to come back in a puddle heh. What did you find out?"
“Hello, everyone!” Chaïa beamed. “There’s definitely something down there. Whoever that was , I doubt they were alone, and they were probably very important. There’s a gallery down there with similar figures in relief, all sculpted in extremely reverent attitudes from the perspective of whoever walks by. It’s really quite flattering.”
“But someone’s been here before. The reliefs are damaged where some barbarian or other couldn’t be bothered to be careful in going to and fro, and there’s a partially opened chamber beyond that I couldn’t get a good look at. It would have been a tight squeeze, and I didn’t want to risk missing my ride back. I did find a way to activate the mechanism from below, though, and if we can presume that something similar is available in all the alcoves, we should all be able to go exploring without worrying about getting trapped somewhere.”
“We could see if there’s a sign of anything interesting in the access to the other sections first, or just proceed carefully in order from this one again. I don’t mind poking around a bit more, but I wouldn’t mind having – someone with longer pointy bits of metal to watch my back. It’s a bit tight to manoeuvre to make sure one can get a spell off.”
As she spoke, she her eyes wandered over the chamber of the strange elevating device, trying to figure out if there was a way to activate it from the top level without handling the sarcophagus. Or was it just on a timer?
“Anyway,” she concluded, “I don’t think it’s our Waterdhavian nuisances. It would take more than hot air to shift the stone down there, and I don’t think they’ve had enough time to get ahead of us.”