Asaran quickly passes his gaze over the hallway and doors, his eyes looking for any obvious threat or anything that resonates with the strange feelings within him. Slightly disappointed, he chides himself, What, did you think you'd figure out your calling just inside the front door?, and then stands in the back, keeping a wary eye. Let's be sure the scorpion is the only thing that attacks us from the rear during this expedition..
Philian looks at the ancient carvings with a bit of wonderment, his finger tracing (without touching) the various designs.
Interesting, I think I have read about this somewhere. It seems to be . . .
Nothing beyond the knowledge of the resident of this tomb is gained upon further reflection.
Pfilian recalls that many locals enjoyed chariots for sport and war.
"So who is going first?"
Asaran shrugs, "If you can assure me it's not trapped, I'll go."
Philian smiles:
This is very interesting. This seems to show that even back in the days when this man lived, chariots were extremely popular for both pleasure and war.
He puts his hand up under his head and scratches his scalp while thinking for a moment before looking sheepishly at the others.
For some reason I am guessing that this has nothing to do with our search of this crypt.
The group discusses chariots and their uses for about ten minutes. In no way does this lead to any revelations about the crypt.
Rakal is by no means gifted in finding traps but here it goes....
Automatic check if stone within 10', +2 for stone trap, +4 for secret door
Rakal moves down the hallway wary of traps, "Alright Asaran, follow me!"
"Right behind you," he replies, quite pleased to get away from further discussion of the cultural importance of chariots.
Moving down the hall, the dwarf notices a pressure plate near the end of the hall by the door. It is about five feet long and ten feet wide and probably causes bad things to happen.
Asaran stops short when the Dwarf does, and asks, "What is it?"
Philian looks down at the pressure plate.
I don't know what it might release, but I have never heard of a pressure plate in a dungeon that did good things. Let me see if I can disable it somehow.
Disable Device:
Pfilian disables the device, which seems to connect to a series of holes all along the corridor. It will not trigger what appears to be multiple dart tubes anymore. Opening the door he discovers a larger room.
A faded tapestry hangs on a wooden frame on the western wall of this chamber. Faded and delicate, the tapestry depicts a middle-aged man, accompanied by a woman and two children, with a small estate in the background. To either side of the tapestry are two small pedestals, upon which sit two dead and preserved animals. Stone double doors exit the chamber to the north, south, and east (which you just entered).
The tapestry is a portrait of Akhentepi, his wife, and two children, depicted standing before their family home.
Knowledge(local):
Philian returns to scratching his head. He can almost make something out, but not quite.
Asaran asks, "Does anyone see any sign that one way is better than the other, or should we flip a coin and let fate decide?"
"My dwarven bones say north, let's head that way"
Philian nods:
Exactly my thought Rakal. North it is.
You are unsure whether he was thinking north, or just jumping on the bandwagon because it was looking north.
Asaran says, "Far be it to me to argue with dwarven bones.... or a halfling's wisdom...", though it's difficult to tell if the dryness of his tone is a result of the damage to his throat or not.
Moving north the party opens the double stone doors...
A brightly painted chariot sits in the center of this chamber. Beyond the chariot, a large canvas stretches between two stone columns. The skins of several animals—antelopes, great cats,
and crocodiles—now faded and deteriorated with age, are tacked to this canvas. 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. An open hallway leads to the east, and a set of stone double doors leads south (whish you just came through).
In the corridor to the east......
Four funerary masks hang on one wall of this short hallway, staring down as if in judgment at anyone standing in the corridor.
Philian looks at the chariot.
Wow, this must of have been Akhentepi chariot, one of his favorite possessions. I bet they repainted it and fully restored it after his death, then disassembled it and brought it here where it was reassembled.
Philian moves closer and looks carefully.
As good and preserved as this is, I doubt that it would last long on the road today. But, it could assuredly be fixed with a magical fixing spell. Not one of those cantrips every mage learns though, but rather something more powerful.
Philian then moves into the hallway ignoring everything else as he apparently has no clue as to the value of anything.
Those two masks appear to be Abadar and Pharasma. I have no clue about the others, if they are gods, I have not heard of them. My guess is that they are family masks or perhaps tribal emblems, or perhaps they were used during the chariot races, or at masque balls. I hear that they had lots of those in Ancient Osirion.
Rakal nods along, fascinated by everything they have found so far. "So that chest, anything interesting in that do you think?"
Asaran rubs his throat and then wrasps, "Should we take up the masks now, or wait until we leave? I assume we'll need to come back this way, and it would be a shame to weigh ourselves down, or risk them breaking, if we do not need to... Or are we worried that others might enter here, despite our lottery win?"
Asaran does not think the spell would be worth it. It would take a craftsmen to do it effectively.
The chest sits waiting to be inspected or opened.
Asaran says, "I would imagine, from all that I've heard, it's likely trapped."
Rakal checks it out, though not being made of stone it isn't his area of expertise
Moving into the hallway with the masks, you look into the room to the east....
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.
With a sculpted landscape and tiny stone and wooden
statues, the diorama depicts an ancient battle between the
city of Wati and an unidentified enemy. The rack to the
east proudly displays three shields. The shield on the right
is a light wooden shield identical to the shields carried
by the soldiers in the diorama. It bears Ancient Osiriani
hieroglyphs that spell the name “Akhentepi,” marking
those soldiers as under the command of Akhentepi
light wooden shield on the left does not appear to be
Osirian in origin, you can determine that it
is similar in style to those used by tribes in the Mwangi
Expanse far to the south.
The center shield is unusual in
that it is a light steel shield shaped like a scarab; it matches
the one borne by Akhentepi in the engravings on the
doors in previous areas. The rack on the south wall holds
a composite shortbow, a khopesh, and a spear.
Philian carefully examines the weapons before making a rather profound statement:
If I had to guess, I think these three weapons actually belonged to Akhentepi. Not sure about the shields though. Although the pictures on them are quite pretty.
Asaran looks at the weapons, "They seem relatively well made -- at least enough that they haven't rusted away. Or is there some sort of magical protection here?"
LINK TO PICTURE
The party is carefully examining the weapon rack with their back to the wooden statues when........
Three cute wooden dolls clamber down from the diorama and attack!
Pfilian
Sunjeet
Asaran
Inquisitor
Dolls
Asaran and Rakal are injured by two dolls with spears.
Round 1
Pfilian
Asaran
Dolls
Sunjeet
Rakal
MAP UPDATED -- +d means you have a doll in your square. They are little so they have to get close :-)
Pfilian and Asaran to go
Asaran winces at from the strike of the tiny spear, "The fake men have real weapons," he says as he draws his falcata and steps away from the tiny creature, using his longer reach to slash it from safety.
for
Move Action: Draw Weapon
5' Step W19
Standard: Attack
HP: 11/12
Asaran is injured by one of the wooden dolls with spears. The doll that attacks Rakal is unable to penetrate his armor.
Asaran swings and misses the little wooden doll.
Round 1
Pfilian
Asaran
Dolls
Sunjeet
Rakal
Back up, make them come to us.
Philian dances back and stabs at the toy with his scimitar.
Begone you toy nightmare.
Attack-scimitar:
Damage:
5-foot step north. Since they are sharing our squares, are they size tiny? If so, I think they will provoke when they enter our squares.
Pfilian stabs one of the dolls, but the rapier seems less effective, barely penetrating the wood construction, which is quite solid. With their targets having moved but one, they concentrate on the dwarf.
The dolls lash with their spear twice each at the dwarf.
One spear penetrates for
An acid bolt misses the dolls.
Round 1
Dolls
Sunjeet
Rakal
Round 2
Pfilian
Asaran
Dolls
Sunjeet
Rakal
Keep poking at them, I think I chipped a piece off.
Round 1
Rakal takes a step back and activates judgement of healing (Fast Healing 1) then brings down the pick.
Status 18 9/11
Current Effects Judgement of Healing
Asaran steps toward the dwarf and swings his heavy blade, trying to rid him of at least one of the animated playthings attacking him.
Rakal is the only one that hits the wooden warriors. The creature resists much of the damage, but can't take another hit like that.
Having been hit by Pfilian, they shift their attack to the small halfling.
Pfilian gets hammered by the little menaces, one hits him in the groin with a spear.
Round 2
Sunjeet
Rakal
Round 3
Pfilian
Asaran
Dolls
Round 2
"Watch the low blows! Should have worn a little more protection..."
Rakal takes a step towards the one he hit before and continues to pound away at it
Status 18 10/11
Current Effects Judgement of Healing
Asaran curses the mobility of the little monsters -- then steps behind the halfling to flank with the dwarf.