"I don't know, but I'll see if I can find anything. I can't even hurt this stupid construct anyway."
Maybe that odd looking notch I saw earlier. Though it could just as likely do nothing at all or even something worse...
Thea moves over to the section of the wall where she noticed the notch and feels all over it, trying to figure out if it's pressed up, down or in or turned somehow.
The sarcophagus shatters under the assault of the group and parts lie floating in the water. Almathea makes it over to the lever and pulls and...nothing happens. No click, no sliding...nothing. Water continues to rush into the room through the northern door. It's now up to about three feet.
Being badly bruised and barely standing, Leto looks around in rising panic.
First this abomination of evil witchery here and now we gonna drown? I have plans for the future! Leave the woodwork to us, do something about that water Alma!
"Stay calm my friends," Nevai says as he sheathes his sword. "Even if this trap was intended to kill intruders, the builders would probably have tried to make it able to work more than once. Look around and try to find anything that might allow us to stop the flow of water, drain the water, or escape from this room."
Nevai mutters a short prayer and light flashes in his eyes for a moment.
"Did anyone notice on the way in how sturdy the door is? If we don't find anything soon, we may need to try to break it down."
Micah sheathes his cutlass and forces some wood under Setesh's face to keep it floating above water. "Anyone know a quick way to make sure he hasn't drowned? Or what to do if he has taken in water?"
"Asking him to stand up might be a good way to do it, since I just healed him a few moments ago."
Setesh stands up, spluttering.
"That was unpleasant."
Leto points to a spot on the wall.
There do you see those fissures? Maybe there´s a thin wall or something, we gotta try! Help me!
Nevai heads to the opposite wall and inspects the cracks he found there. "Perhaps we can open these up to drain the water? See if you can find a way to get them open."
Leto is trying to punch in the wall there by the way.
"Everyone! Check the walls and look around! This is obviously the false tomb and it traditionally there was always a secret door hidden to the real tomb inside of the false one."
Almathea begins looking and feeling around for any kind of lever switch or false wall panel.
Micah rushes to Leto's side and attempts to assist in opening the door...
Erei will go to assist Nevai.
The walls seems solid enough, but as Leto punches it in a effort to break through it moves slightly. Perhaps it was once water-tight, but the weight of millennia have weakened the door. Putting his shoulder into it, the door slides open into a small chamber.
---
This small room is filled with human-shaped bundles wrapped in linen. Each wears a small medallion around its neck.
---
A dozen mummified bodies were interred within the room. Though now that it has been opened water rushes in to flood it. The bodies lie floating in the water, bobbing around like driftwood. When you have a moment to check, the medallions around their necks are small wooden holy symbols marked with Pharasma’s spiral.
Nevai and Eeri on the other side of the room are having less luck and seem unable to move the wall aside.
However, the water flooding from the north door slows to a dribble and seems to have stopped.
Setesh breathes a sigh of relief once he realises that no further water is cascading into the room.
"Well, that is *something* to be thankful for, at least..."
He then moves over to the western wall to help the others (pulling out his crowbar in the process).
Nevai gives it another shot, now that he's caught his breath and has Setesh and Erei there with him.
Ehm, Nevai! You might want to take a look over here! Lots of mummies with Pharasma’s spiral around their neck! Probably not smart to remove those amulets eh? Good thing the water stopped.
"I was hoping to find a way to drain this water, and a way out. Unless you would enjoy sleeping down here in the water this evening? Once we find a way back to the surface, we can rest before exploring further." Nevai takes a moment to look around and says, "Do you think the water is likely to start again? Why did it stop flowing?"
That earns a blank look from Leto.
You probably asked th wrong one there. It seems to have stopped, no way to tell for me if it will start again. Since it stopped when we opened this door, i guess that´s somehow related though. If you could take a look at those mummies please? I don´t want to be superstitious, but there´s a dozen of them and i would rather avoid having them come to life or something before we open the other door and search for a way out. Might be good to know who and what they actually are.
Setesh, you can make out that this is a secret door of some sort, but it is locked. Similar to the last one, it is ancient (so tricky), but not exceptionally complicated.
"There is another secret door here... but this one is locked."
Setesh takes his time to unlock the door.
In the mean time, Nevai acquiesces and heads over to inspect the mummified remains.
The lock is old but not complicated and you open it after a little bit of effort. There is a short corridor with another set of double doors, again locked. A quick, but thorough search reveals no traps and these doors prove no harder than the last to open. The next corridor bends to the right into stairs leading down to another set of doors. In this corridor your search finds a hidden door on the southern wall. There is no lock and it easily slides open.
---
In contrast to the rest of the tomb, this rough earthen passage is not lined with masonry. At various points along the tunnel, sections of the walls have crumbled, as if something had dug small tunnels in the walls that subsequently collapsed.
There is dead mining beetle lying in the rubble in the passageway. It seems the lone survivor from your fight fled here through the small tunnels burrowed in the wall.
---
The secret doors are easily visible from inside the passageway and the southern door has a latch to open it from this side, but is meant to be unopenable from the southern side.
"Well, at least we now have an alternate exit... Shall we continue on down the other corridor?"
Setesh then moves to check-out the doors at the bottom of the stairs.
The water spread forth as each new door was opened. It's now down to less than a puddle beneath your feet. The stairs down are a little wet, but most of the water went through the secret passage as there seems to be a slight decline.
Nevai, the small room with the mummified corpses holds nothing else. The bodies, now drenched, lie scattered around the floor of the false tomb.
That seems somehow wrong. Let´s fix it.
Leto starts propping up the corpses against the wall again and tries to reestablish some order there.
Micah helps Leto reorganize the corpses though his face reveals that his finds it unpleasant. "So, if this is a fake burial chamber are these fake bodies? Or did they just grab a couple of extra stiffs and stick them down here to fool future explorers and businessmen?"
"From what I recall from reading on the tombs here, this secret passage was probably constructed so the priests who interred Akhentepi in his true burial chamber could bypass the false tomb. Thus avoiding the dangers and setting off the traps themselves."
"Possibly, but it also was not uncommon for powerful individuals to have favored servants interred with them, so that they could continue to serve their master in the afterlife... particularly if, in life, they were slaves..."
Setesh then returns to investigating the next door.
Setesh unlocks the stone doors and they slide open.
---
This room holds several neatly arrayed chests, boxes, and urns. The dust of centuries covers every surface. The only exit is a set of stone double doors to the south.
---
A thorough search of the room reveals no obvious traps on the containers and none are locked. You do, however, find a hidden door in the wall. A magical trap protects it, though you're unsure what the effect is.
Wisely deciding to leave the trap alone for the moment, Setesh eagerly begins itemising the contents of the chests, boxes, and urns.
I'm guessing you are staying away from that wall for a reason? Erei says, motioning to the trapped wall. Do we have a solution to the problem?
As he speaks he just leans on his flagpole, relaxing as Setesh catalogs the contents of the room.
"Well, there is the little matter of the magical trap on the secret door... I can take a crack at it, but I wanted to make sure we cleared the room of valuables first, in case something nasty happened..."
Most of the goods in the chests, such as once-fine clothing and sealed jars of food, no longer have any value after the passage of centuries, but among the spoiled and ruined grave goods are several salvageable items of value, including two vials of some silver liquid, a composite longbow of fine craftsmanship (masterwork, STR +2), 10 cold iron arrows, a gold scarab clasp, an onyx and silver holy symbol of Pharasma, a silver hand mirror, and a wax-sealed clay urn of nard (the same substance you found in other jars.)
The gold scarab clasp is worth 50gp.
The onyx and silver holy symbol of Pharasma is worth 100 gp.
The silver hand mirror is worth 35 gp.
The wax-sealed clay urn of nard is worth 75 gp.
Almathea hovers behind Setesh as he opens the containers and looks to see if he uncovers anything of either an arcane nature or of particular historical importance.
"Yes, we should make sure there isn't anything particularly valuable that would be potentially damaged by water if we get flooded again."
Thea casts Detect Magic and looks over everything found, just in case.
That one surely loved bows. Leto says as he admires the newly found bow. I wonder why there are so many symbols of Pharasma though? I thought the old Pharaos had different gods? Or were they perhaps added later by Pharasmin priests?
Valuing all of these old items is such a hassle.
"You won't be saying that when it comes time to sell them all. Setesh, Horus may aid you in dealing with that trap." Nevai presents his wooden holy symbol and touches Setesh's forehead, casting guidance.
"What are the chances of this chamber ever flooding?" Micah asks sarcastically, absentmindedly rubbing the electrical burn on his chest.
"Keep in mind that I have no magical healing abilities remaining today. I believe someone has a single potion somewhere?"
Setesh grins fatalistically at Micah.
"Sure it would be poor design for the trap to flood the lower reaches of the tomb, where the actual treasures were stored..."
He then nods to Nevai.
"Another reason why I wanted to wait until everyone was ready before potentially triggering the trap..."