'This tapestry must depict Mumu, his personal assistant Deborah, and two of his Halfling models. It must be pricesless.' Varisia moves forward to study the craftsmanship.
Zohreh peers closer at Varisia's words, trying to remember if she had heard any stories related to the tapestry during her travels.
Zohreh is able to figure out this is probably a tapestry of Akhentepi's family. Varisia appraises the tapestry at 50 gp.
Ravi, Caliphana, Arasmes and Lorn beg to leave after they all begin to get sick from the dust in the tombs. They head out, making sure your back is clear and move on.
Jandar finds no traps on the doors. He opens them into a 20x20 ft room that has an open hallway that leads to the east into darkness. The most prominent thing of note is the full size brightly painted chariot in the middle of the room. A canvas stretches between two columns upon which are tacked the faded and deteriorated skins of antelopes, great cats, and crocodiles. A wooden chest, lacquered white and trimmed with gold inlay, sits in the southeast corner. In each corner of the room a small stone shield is molded into the masonry at shoulder height.
Varisia attempts to carefully remove and roll the tapestry. If successful he places it gently next to the door out. Upon doing so he joins the rest of the party on marveling at the new room.
His attention is drawn to the chest.
'Mumu the Dressmaker was known to use extensive golden trim and shield motifs in his work...'
roll me a dex check Varisia.
Zohreh goes to get a closer look at the shield.
"I wonder why it's in the wall like this." She pokes it with her glaive to see how firmly it's rooted in.
@Jandar-Kai It's a chariot, quite old but in fairly good shape given its age. The chest appears to be trapped with some form of spring loaded blade.
@Zohreh It's quite firmly attached. As you look closely at it, the shield appears to be a cresset (torch holder).
@Varisia you are able to recover the tapestry without damaging it.
"Should we try to get this out?" Zohreh calls to the others, gesturing toward the shelf with her glaive.
Varisia moves to where Zohreh is examining the shield. He looks it over to determine if there is any other purpose to the shield moldings. He stirs up all the forces of his extensive study of all things ancient Osirion.
The shield shaped cresset appears to be mortared into the masonry. It would require chiseling or ripping out the mortar with acid in order to remove the shield from the wall. This may violate the every slave hut is a temple rule laid down by the priests of Phasrama....
Jandar is able to disable the trap. Everyone gains 100 xp (and should be at 400). However, the chest is still locked.
Zariya shakes her head with a rueful smile. "I'm much better at dealing with people than traps and other mechanisms. What you are doing with those tools is impressive though. I guess I'll just stay on the lookout." First she scans the room for evil, then she walks slowly around the room, studying the chariot, the shields and the chest. If she'll find nothing she'll walk slowly over to the corridor and peer as far as she can into the darkness (60 feet). Finally she scans the corridor as well.
'I don't think these do anything but hold torches. Maybe put torches in them? I'm going to go back and look at those mummified animals. They might be of some value to local museums.' Varisia backtracks to the previous room and examines the desiccated creatures.
The shields do not gaze back at Zariya. The chariot appears to be in repairable condition if you were able to get a make whole cast upon it after moving and reassembling it. The chest glares at Jandar-Kai but is helpless against his deft touch. The corridor continues to another set of double doors. The mummified animals are Akhentepi's cats, strangled and then mummified to guard and guide him in the afterlife.
None really. They're just mummified cats, which is pretty common amongst any Orisians of middle class. Taking notes or a good drawing of them would probably help gain influence with the Phasramans though.
Varisia realizes that the mummy's hold no financial value and leaves them be. He does take care to remember what he can of them for the priests. Perhaps their description can aid in the study of ancient burial rites in Wati. He then moves to rejoin his peers in the next room down.
Zohreh comes over to where Jandar is opening the chest. "What's inside?"
The chest opens and has some stuff in it. Three vials, some books, and something else that I forgot and will post later. To save time, yes the vials radiate magic.
The chest contains two books with thin, gold-plated metal sheets, and three vials. The chest itself also looks valuable...
Varisia walks up to the group gathered around the chest. He peers over Jandar-Ki's shoulder and his eyes widen.
'Great work, mind if I take a look at this stuff?'
The books are actually in Ancient Osiriani. Does anyone speak or read it?
The books look like they are worth around 240 gp each. The chest is about 160 gp. The books weigh 25 lbs each, while the chest is 30 lbs.
'They're worth a pretty penny if we can get them topside. I've started collecting stuff back near the entrance. Does someone want to give me a hand carrying all this, we can take our time and study the books later. I don't want to get caught in the Necropolis overnight.'
"That sounds like a good idea," says Zohreh. "I'll help you."
Varisia sizes up the chariot as he and Zoreh move the chest and books from the room. He begins to get lost in his mental calculations and stumbles nearly dropping the chest.
'Sorry, I'm just thinking...' He shakes his head and looks up at the cleric then nods towards the chariot. 'you think we can get that thing out of here?'
'Cheaper to buy a block and tackle and haul it up ourselves. Let me take another look at that hole'
"Good idea to gather everything so we don't have to carry it around. I'll certainly help with hauling everything. We could probably get the chariot fixed by getting Make Whole cast on it, but let us worry about that after we are done exploring eh? After we are done leaving all the stuff behind us, let's explore this new door." Zariya will help gather the gear, then go to the door and after inspecting it open it carefully once everyone are there, assuming no traps are found first ofc.
You manage to get the heavy books and chest up to the front entrance. Sunlight still streams through the open doors, but nothing has been there to disturb the tapestry. You are unsure how long you have been down here, lacking any time pieces or sundials. The chariot will have to be disassembled and then reassembled on the surface.
After you descend back down, the hallway appears to have 4 funerary masks that hang one from wall. They seem to stare down in judgement of anyone passing through it. Zariya's keen eyes detect no traps or secret doors in the hallway, and none on the door.
Varisia stops to study the masks. He stops at each one and takes them in in turn.
They are worth 10,000 gp each, and are also obviously from the time of Mumu. She did have a tendency of bathing her subject heads in molten gold to make realistic masks....
Zariya opens the door, seeing as there are no traps and looks into the next room.
A table displaying a three-dimensional diorama occupies much of the north side of this room. Three shields with different designs are displayed upon a rack against the east wall, while various weapons hang from another rack along the south wall. Arrayed around the room are five small chests and a clay urn. The room is 20x20.
'I think we've got something here.' Varisia says trying to keep from shouting out.'We'll all be rich, even with any cuts the museum might make in the price, we'll all be rich'
Varisia removes the masks carefully one by one and carries them in his arms into the next room. When he sees the bounty the next room contains his jaw goes slack. The masks tumble from his arms as he glances from item to item.
'Where do we start?' He makes a quick scan of the room for magical auras before diving in.
"It seems too good to be true," cautions Zohreh. "We should watch out for traps."
As the party approaches the room, three 2 ft dolls jump from the diorama and rush towards you, their clack of the wooden feat being the on;y sound they make. Roll for initiative!