Karo stands, rapt in attention, oblivious to any possible danger. He peers down into the crack. Marvelous Morin, I don't know why I didn't think of that.
"Well, well, what have you found for us, Morin? Perhaps we should consider a tactical fallback toward the rope in case we need to get out of here?"
Tekkis keeps his eyes on the altar, but begins moving toward the rope.
Morin lies on his belly and looks over the edge of the altar at the opening created by shifting the altar, and says "Tekk, why don't you give me a hand here? I think we might be able to push this thing over a bit more and take a look underneath it. There's some kind of space under there, we should check it out."
Sarusa hops down and offers Chloe a hand. "It pays to be cautious," she growls. "And how about using the crowbar again, Ser Tidelock?" She walks over to the crack, carefully.
The crack is only about six inches wide at the widest point. You can faintly spot roughly - hewn steps below the altar. One side of the altar stayed roughly in the same position.
"Oh, but... I'm happy nothing happened..." Chloe admits, smiling at Sarusa's left as she walks off. She follows the druid, but not so close that it could be considered hovering. While she couldn't help much with the uncovering of the stairway, she could assist if something jumps out with the accomplishment.
"Oh mighty Sarusa, looks like one side of this thing is supposed to move, and didn't. Maybe we can combine a crowbar and a half-orc and shift it? Unless that bit that didn't move is the pintle? The thing it rotates on? Either way, a crowbar and a strong back oughta shift it."
Muttering, Tekk moves up to help push the altar.
Karo can barely contain his excitement as he begins to help to push the altar. This is simply intriguing. I wonder what is down there and why.
With Tekkis' brawn, and a bit of aid from a well-positioned Karozekas, one side of the altar swings wide while the other remains in position. A series of clicks echo as the stone block reveals the a staircase, like a massive gear ratcheting back.
A foot-thick border of the same pale limestone that makes up most of the crypt gives way to irregular stones, mortared with natural clay and mud. The steps, rough cut stone blocks anchored into the walls, descend to a landing, then switch back, descending deeper into the dark earth below. Nitre and fungus mar the walls. You can smell damp earth, and rot, and something almost like cinnamon.
Karo gapes with astonishment at the staircase revealed. Simply marvelous Morin, you have outdone yourself. I assume we going to explore this, yes? Karo takes his everburning torch and holds it down into the hole, peering around.
Morin leaps down from the altar, landing next to Karozekas and peering down the staircase, and says, ”You bet we’re going to explore this! Can’t open a big secret door hidden under a mysterious altar in a tomb guarded by undead demon dogs and not explore it! Er, well, I guess there’s some what could, eh? But I think we should. Something created those dogs, and we don’t want it getting up to more mischief. Before we go down, though, maybe Corbyn or Sarusa could take a look and see if there’s tracks on the stairs, see if there’s a lot of traffic up and down ‘em, or if we’re the first in a while?”
Squatting down by the stairs, Morin adds, "But first, let's all be real quiet and have a listen, see if all that noise stirred anything up."
Sarusa waits and extends her spirit senses.
Chloe steadies her breathing and listens in response to Morin's suggestion.
She manages to stay relatively focused, even as Corbyn tries to make conversation. She holds up her finger to her lips, facing (roughly) the ranger's position.
In retrospect, she realizes she has no idea where Kessen is.
Tekk leans over and peers down the stairs, attempting to be as quiet as possible.
Room description: The stairs lead out to a a small, natural stone catacomb. Three stone levers, waist high on a man, jut out from the wall at the base of the steps. In the center of the room, there is a spoked, stone pillar, roughly as tall as Morin. Every inch of wall space has been chiseled into burial niches, most of which hold skeletal remains, although many have been spilled out onto the ground.
The rogue who looted this place has left and is now in ghoulish thrall to creatures in Magnimar. With Ashava's pendant, he was able to bypass the Necrophidius guardian, which attacks anyone who enters the room not bearing the symbol of Ashava. There are three levers and a large, spoked stone pillar at the base of the lower part of the stairs. The first lever disables the trap. The second resets/reengages it. The third closes the altar. The altar can be reopened by completing three full revolutions with the stone pillar. The ghast cleric who rules this place has used stone shape to access this room through the burial niches.
NECROPHIDIUS CR 3
XP 800
N Medium construct
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0
DEFENSE
AC 15, touch 13, flat-footed 12 (+3 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 36 (3d10+20)
Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +1
DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune construct traits
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +6 (1d8+4 plus paralysis)
Special Attacks dance of death
STATISTICS
Str 16, Dex 17, Con —, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 1
Base Atk +3; CMB +6; CMD 19 (can't be tripped)
Skills Stealth +15; Racial Modifiers
+12 Stealth
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary or coil (2–6)
Treasure none
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Dance of Death (Ex) A necrophidius can entrance opponents by swaying back and forth as a full-round action. All creatures within 30 feet who can see the necrophidius when it uses its dance of death must succeed on a DC 15 Will save or be dazed for 2d4 rounds. This is a mind-affecting effect. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +4 racial bonus.
Paralysis (Su) Any living creature that is bitten by a necrophidius must succeed on a DC 13 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +2 racial bonus.
Despite its sinister appearance, the snake-like necrophidius is not an undead creature. Rather, it is a magical construct built from the skeleton of a giant snake and then mounted with the skull of a humanoid creature. Fangs are cemented into the jaws of the skull, after which the entire creation can be brought to life by a series of obscure and expensive rituals—these rituals are traditionally well guarded by those who discover them.
As a mindless construct that requires neither food nor sleep, a necrophidius makes an excellent guardian, and its innate stealth allows it to slip up on the unwary undetected. In certain areas, the necrophidius is commonly employed as an assassin, able to disable its quarries with its dance of death or paralyzing bite before disposing of them in a gruesome manner—as long as the assassination doesn't require any particular intelligence to carry out. Particularly macabre creators might even construct the creature from the skull of a friend or loved one of the intended victim in order to magnify the horror of the assassination, leaving much of the flesh on the skull so the victim can recognize its source. This flesh rots eventually—only freshly crafted necrophidiuses have this grisly feature (although regular applications of gentle repose spells can keep such a morbid decoration fresh for a much longer period of time).
Although a necrophidius is mindless, it can follow the simple commands of its creator. These can include commands to lie dormant until some specific condition is met or to follow and kill an indicated target to the exclusion of all other activities.
A typical necrophidius is 10 feet long and weighs 200 pounds.
Construction
A necrophidius's body consists of a human skull and the skeletal remains of a constrictor snake, all treated with rare oils and powders worth 1,000 gp.
NECROPHIDIUS
CL 10th; Price 7,500 gp
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Construct, cat's grace, daze monster, geas/quest, ghoul touch, creator must be caster level 7th; Skill Craft (sculpture) or Heal DC 15; Cost 4,250 gp
You all listen carefully, but hear no sounds from below. The light extends down to a rough stone landing, and you can see further steps below, switching back to descend further. All the stairs are roughly four feet wide, a foot long and a foot tall. There are perhaps twenty of them before the landing.
Sarusa does not sense any untoward presences, but her keen eyes do detect a pattern of dried muck going up and down the steps. Someone has been this way before.
Hoisting his mattock in his hands, Tekk begins walking down the stairs.
Karo begins descending the stairs, torch in one hand and curve blade in the other. He narrates as he walks. The stairs are definitely manmade, so someone built this for a reason. I find the faint scent of cinnamon odd, but have never encountered or read about a subterranean creature that the smell is associated with. I am curious as to what we will find.
Morin pulls a sunrod from his pack and tucks it into his belt for easy access. He then follows behind Karozekas, swords drawn. As he descends the stairs, he responds, "I expect the smell is from someone making us sweet rolls. Won't that be nice?"
Tekk stops, turns slowly, and looks back at Morin. In a hushed tone, he speaks, "A tomb full of sweet rolls. I'd die here a happy half-orc."
That said, he turns back and continues down the stairs.
Sarusa trots down the stairs like everyone else, wishing Gellig was around, her club raised and lit. "Probably a preservative for flesh golems," she mutters sourly.
Karo pauses a step as he continues down the stairs, glancing back at Sarusa. Really? They use cinnamon is their construction? I've never read anything like that, have you seen one? I've always wanted to see one up close, magical constructs are an interest of mine.
"I... I haven't either, but I don't think I want to...," Chloe adds in a hushed tone from behind Sarusa, quaffing a potion before going too much further in. She also makes a few motions and rearranges her life-links.
"Karo, how could you not know they use cinnamon in the construction of a sweet roll? And have I seen one? I've seen lots of them, though I never see them for very long. I don't know if it's because you're an elf or you've studied too much magic, but you're a bit daft at times."
"The last time I tried to make a sweetroll, I-I accidentally used talcum powder... instead of flower because Enda kept them next to eachother and..."
Her eyes go wide, though their unnerving deadness remains.
"...cinnamon alone doesn't make a sweetroll. Can't imagine flesh golems would be... too much different? E-except for the sacrilege, I-I think, if... if they come from down here... "
"...since when did half-orcs like sweet rolls? I thought you preferred meat ripped fresh off the bone. Ah, yes, Smalltooth, I had forgotten your tusks had decayed down to little nubs from all those candies. I recommend a rinse of fennel and wintergreen for that in the future," teases the druid.
She gives a pointed (presumably nondetectable) look at Chloe.
"Chloe, my dear, here's the cardinal rule of cooking that even the sightless can follow: taste what goes in the soup. Unless you're a witch of Irrisen...well, perhaps even then."
Looking back up the stairs, Morin pauses and says "Sarusa, it may surprise you to hear it, but I'm not much of a cook. But I did try to make dinner once on the Black Wind, the ship I sailed on when I was a boy. The cook had come down awful sick in his gut - which I guess should have told me something. He couldn't get out of his hammock, and I was told to get in the galley and get something going for the crew to eat. 'Fore I started, cookie told me just what you said, 'Taste what you put in,' so I did. Threw some onions and beans and such in, they didn't taste so great before cookin' 'em, but I pressed on. But when I grabbed a handful of tiny Thuvian flamepeppers and tasted them before tossing 'em in the soup, things went downhill fast. I've no idea what dinner tasted like that night, couldn't taste a thing. But I never was asked to work in the galley again, which I guess should tell me something."
Continuing down the stairs, just as he reaches the landing, Morin says "Now, let's stop jawin' and get down there, while the sweet rolls are still warm."
Your group tromps down the stairs, discussing the intricacies of pastry making and golemcraft until Tekkis steps on the third stair from the bottom, which depresses under him. Before he can shout a warning, a pair of thin, serrated, chest-high, sickle-shaped blades spring up from between each of the last ten stairs, slashing into those at the front like grotesquely over-sized pruning shears.
Tekkis thick armor protects him from harm, but Karozekas is not so lucky. Both of his thighs are deeply gashed, one of the blades cutting him nearly to the bone.
Morin's small stature does not help much, as one blade cuts deep into his shoulder, while he manages to push away from another, lacerating his hand.
Sarusa, Corbyn and Chloe can only only look on in horror as their friends are nearly eviscerated. Blood splashes the walls as the blades come to rest, upright and quivering. Corbyn and Sarusa notice Chloe growing faint as her friends wounds leach the life out of her.
Karo falls back and sits on a step, staring in disbelief at the blood pouring from his legs, trying to remain conscious. Oh dear he whispers.
Morin cries out and clutches his injured shoulder with his hand, only to realize his hand is cut as well. ”Ah! Ow! Dammit! What a bloody day!” he says in anger and pain, as he braces his uninjured shoulder against the wall in order not to fall down the stairs.
Chloe lets out a cry of surprise that quickly morphs into something more pained. As has been the pattern of the day, there's that damnable delay between the lightning-swift misfortune and the vertigo-inducing relief that overwhelms when she realizes that no one has perished.
"Oh, oh... thank goodness... Hold on, Morin, Karo..."
She barely registers the transfer of vitality, but she does notice that the room is beginning to spin, and she can't tell if the scent of blood is tangible or her mind's warning. To be safe, she channels energy, hands shaking.
"W-we're alright, everyone's okay?" she asks, no longer feeling the tug at the other end of her lifelinks.
For the second, or perhaps third, time today, Morin gazes in wonder as major wounds close up and his body fills with energy, and he says quietly, ”Gods, lass, you work fast.” A bit more loudly, he adds "I'm okay now. Thank you."
"Good, good...," Chloe says quietly, breathing easily again, though her pallor is still marked. "Karo, you too...?"
"...Those things aren't going to come back out, are they...?"
"Ahem...so...Morin in front with a light source. Where there's one trap, there will be more." Sarusa takes the crowbar and breaks the shears off so that they won't harm anyone going down (or up) again.
Sarusa swings the crowbar into one of the large steel blades. It makes an impressive clangor, but otherwise has no effect.
"A good idea, Sarusa, but I think it'll take quite a while to break those. I think we'd do better to move on and see what we see, and just have a care on our way back up. And yes, I think you're right, I should go first and keep an eye out. Maybe yammer a bit less while I'm at it..."
Morin pulls the sunrod out of his belt and strikes it along the wall, providing brilliant illumination up and down the stairs. He walks very carefully through the blades past Karo and Tekkis, and carefully moves onto the lowest steps and beyond, looking for any signs of switches, tripwires or undead horrors.
Very quietly, he says "Eyes and ears, boys and girls, keep 'em open."
Chloe taps Sarusa on the shoulder. She hadn't intended to use it, but the wand of curing would be helpful at the moment.
"Could I have a few charges from the wand...? I don't.. well, I have two potions left, but... I need them for emergencies, and.. I can't imagine I'm good for more than one more spell if it's not.. an orison."
Regardless of her answer, Chloe mutters a quick prayer and imbues the druid in question with an iota of divine power.
She then swallows hard and inches into the now well-lit gloom after the others.
Tekk watches impassively as Karo and Morin are tended to, noting Chloe's comments about her dwindling abilities for the day. He helps Karo to his feet, then pats Morin on the back after they're both healed.
"Sorry all, my fault for taking the lead like that. I'll follow Morin a few paces back."
By focusing more carefully, Morin can clearly make out small gaps in the stairs where the blades protruded. However, the landing seems stable enough, and the second set of steps does not have similar gaps, and proceeding seems safe. The light of his sunrod illuminates the floor below. Unlike the obviously worked stone of the crypt and the steps, this area is more natural, almost cavern-like. You can see perhaps ten feet into this chamber, beyond that is darkness. Three stone levers jut out of the wall next to the base of the stairs. All are raised.
The scent of cinnamon grows stronger as you descend.
By focusing more carefully...
Morin studies the levers carefully, trying to determine what their function is and what is likely to occur if he moves any of them. As he does this, he says quietly "Tekk, my light isn't giving me much of a picture of this next room. If you stand here by me, can you see anything of interest in there?"
Tekkis glances around, "Up ahead, right as the light dims. There seems to be a squat, cylindrical stone plinth, perhaps waist high, with spokes radiating out of the top."