"Fancy."
While the others are poking about the room, Torin will finagle with the composite shortbow, restringing it and testing its draw.
Djehuti shrugs at Izra's comment, not looking up from his notebook. "Likely himself. He was important and wealthy. I'm sure he had this place designed and built before his death."
Torin finishes his work on the Composite Longbow just as Kwin manages to unlock the Northern Door. It leads to a set of stairs going down. The Band therefore try their luck with the Western Door. And after some time, Kwin unlocks it as well.
The door opens and the Band finds that this short hallway narrows sharply to the west, descending to a set of stairs that abruptly ends at a rough rock wall.
There seems to be a secret door, located in the rock. But it does not open from this side. The only way through is via magic or breaking it down.
"The spirals are symbols of Pharasma," Izra had been telling Kwin, as he worked, "When people die, their souls travel across the planes, and up the spiral stairs of Pharasma's tower. At the top, they are judged, and sent to their appropriate destination. That is what these depict."
When the doors opened, Izra glanced down the hall at the wall, and frowned.
"Dead end?" she asked. "That's disappointing."
"Let me have a look-see."
Torin taps the wall with his fist and runs his finger around nearly invisible seams.
"Not quite a dead end. There's a door built into this wall here, but it wont open from this side. Anyone got any handy magics, or a big hammer? We may need to get to smashing."
"Souls cross whole planes of existence and then have to trudge up a staircase? Odd belief!"
Kwin joins Torin at the blank wall, squinting at it and then shaking his head. "How do you do that! You tell us it's there and sometimes I still can't see it."
He looks at the door thoughtfully. "Are we allowed to smash doors? Seems a little excessive. Maybe there's another way around."
Koshu snuffled at the seams in the wall experimentally, then turned and shrugged. "Alas, I did not have the funds to bring more than the crowbar. " He dusted a bit of the sandling out of his fur, as he had been doing since their fight. "Perhaps you might use your new shield to get the insects that destroyed the other wall to do our work for us," he jested with Izra.
Djehuti shakes his head. "I do not want to see any walls broken down. We can try to find a way around if we cannot open it from this side."
Everyone but Ahmed and Izra notice some scuttling and clacking noises to the west of them. They look to see two large beetles.
Djehuti Initiative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
Torin Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
Kwin Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14
Izra Initiative: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (12) + 0 = 12
Suri Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
Koshukhep Initiative: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
Ahmed Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Beetles Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Kwin frowns and then dashes into the room, uchigatana drawn.
"You insects are starting to BUG me!"
Koshukhep rolled his shoulders and paced after Kwin, claws extended. "Perhaps Izra's shield will let her command them? A question for another time!"
Ahmed glares at the stone door, wishing he had some of his powers, and cursing his human prison. When the beetles come through, he glares at them as well.
Knowing literally nothing about these creatures, a very frustrated Ahmed elbows the others aside, looking for something to take his anger out on, and swings his sickle at one of the beetles.
Djehuti puts away his notebook and pulls out his bow but for the moment leaves his arrows in the quiver. The scrum around the giant insects is chaotic enough that he doesn't want to risk shooting a friend.
Izra turned to look when the others ran from the room. She hadn't heard the insects approach, and by the time there was anything to do, the others were between her and the enemy.
She didn't think she would be able to use her shield to command any insects, much less these large ones, but now wasn't the time to have that conversation with Koshukhep - he was otherwise engaged.
She knew water wouldn't hurt her companions, and might help, so she stepped closer to the door, and caused rain to fall on the insect Ahmed hadn't connected with, hoping to interfere with the bug's ability to exact revenge for its companion's injury.
Ahmed's sickle lands with such force that the beetle almost explodes in goo from the impact of the slashing weapon. As it was naught but two cleanly halved carapaces remain of the beast.
Koshukhep misses the scuttling critter, but Kwin manages a powerful blow. Alas not enough to finish it.
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"Or you could let the mindless beasties come to you, but hey, if you want to get eaten, that's your business."
Torin will try to thread an arrow through the chaos,
"It's called first strike advantage, Short Round!" shouts Kwin as he spins around to line up another attack.
Looking profoundly unhappy to be wearing both sandling sand and bug goo (or possibly just embarrassed at his general uselessness in the tomb so far), Koshukhep sheathed his claws and lowered his arms. "Would that I had your reflexes, Kwin," he grumbled. His nostrils flared as he glanced at Ahmed, who (possibly?) was soaked by Izra's little storm.
"But if our fire is not gone out, let us see if the bugs' lair holds some manner of way to pass the door that confounds us."
"And I your strength, Oh Mighty Cat," Kwin replies as he wipes off his sword. "But we are what we are..." he turns to look at Koshukhep with a glimmer in his eyes. "... though perhaps with time and practice, we can learn from each other, eh?"
Sword resheathed, he joins the ranger in examining the area.
Bright, melodic laughter, the likes of which the tomb likely never heard before, floats from Suri's mouth as she sees the drenched Ahmed, looking dour as ever. "You ought to be more mindful," she chides playfully, her eyes twinkling. "Were he a bit slower, Torin might have shot you in the back."
As the trapped d'jinn approaches, her voice drops and the smile fades. "You are part of a team now, my love. You don't have to run into everything by yourself." A smile creeps back across her lips as she adds, "Not that I don't appreciate the effort."
Embarrassed, Ahmed does not reply, though his demeanour improves with Suri's warm kiss on his wet cheek. Curious as the others are about the passage, he approaches as well, with Suri close by, her fire drying him off. "It doesn't look as though it can be opened from here, I'm afraid." He turns to Suri, "Unless you have any ideas?"
She shakes her head in response. "I'm afraid it takes too much of my energy to sustain me here. Unless we smash through it, we may not have the means just yet."
Suri looks to Djehuti and Izra, "Perhaps magic gods may be strong enough here?"
Djehuti peers at the passage beyond the dead bugs, then at the locked door, wondering if the two were related.
The Band of the Black Fire returns to the previous room and begins heading down the stairs. They open the door and find that the center of this large octagonal room is a raised square platform a few inches above the floor, with a stone pillar at each corner. A gold-trimmed sarcophagus sits in the center of the platform, flanked by two statues of humanoid beings with canine heads, each of which holds an ankh in one of its crossed arms. Stone double doors exit the room to the north and south.
Koshukhep stepped into the room, keeping an eye out for any more insects or other animals that might be lurking. He wasn't sure whether to be irked or relieved that there were no more mummified cats present. Sekhmet didn't appear to be depicted, either. Eyeing the sarcophagus, he fished the crowbar from his pack, but waited for Torin and Kwin to declare it safe before trying to pry the lid off. Meanwhile, he sniffed, trying to pick up any unusual scent that might spell danger.
Djehuti notices nothing out of the ordinary and takes out his notebook to sketch the room and update their map of Akhentepi's tomb.
"Wait!," Izra raised a hand, and her voice in warning. "There is something magical about the platform. It may be a trap."
With a whisper, she summons Pharasma's guidance, and touches Torin on the shoulder. Then she does the same for Kwin.
Kwin tears his gaze away from the western wall to look at the dais briefly. "I don't see it... but there's something up with that wall," he says, pointing. "I think there's a hidden door there; check it, would you Torin?"
That said, he moves closer to the platform and squats to study it. Then he looks up at Izra. "Sometimes I can disable magical traps, but I'm not much with mystical stuff otherwise. Can you tell anything else?"
Izra shrugged. "Not really," she said. "I'm not even sure how I spotted it in the first place. It just... looked...off, somehow. I've seen enough magical items in my day to have something of a feel for such things, but I don't have the ability to use magic to verify my hunches. I'm not usually wrong, mind you, I just can't verify it without help."
Djehuti peers at the platform and mutters a spell under his breath.
The gold-lined sarcophagus and the four pillars all detect as magic. But Djehuti is unable to identify their properties.
Kwin listens to Izra's apologetic explanation that she can tell something's there but not what it is, then watches as Djehuti casts a spell and announces he can tell something's there but not what it is.
With a sigh, the kitsune pulls out his leather tool roll and begins walking around the dais, studying it intently. After a good deal of thought, he pulls out an odd looking probe and begins fiddling with the base of one of the columns.
Satisfied, he returns the tool to its spot and rolls his kit closed.
"Looks clear."
When Kwin indicated the trap had been disarmed, Izra moved in to investigate the sarcophagus.
"Hey, I think we got a door built into the wall over here."
Torin will try to open the door, and if we is unable to, he'll wave over Kwin.
Staring into the sarcophagus with Izra, Koshu's brow furrowed mightily, along with his muzzle. "A decoy. Very well; the door Torin has found must lead us deeper."
It takes a few moments of trial and error, but Torin then finds the mechanism to open the door. It slides open effortlessly and reveals an ancient horror.
This small room is filled with dozens of human-shaped bundles wrapped in linen. Each wears a small medallion around its neck, marked with Pharasma’s spiral.
Djehuti nods sagely. "Likely the slaves who built this tomb, buried here to protect the tomb's secrets on its completion. Not every tomb required this much secrecy. There must be something else to find."
Izra turned from the sarcophagus with a frown. That had been a lot of security for a decoy. Which left her concerned about what kind of security they would find on the real treasure.
When Torin found the bodies, she examined them closely.
"Interesting. These were given all the proper rites and procedures to ward off curses, and to ensure proper treatment in the afterlife. They were treated well. Or else someone wanted to be extra sure their unhappy souls didn't return to cause trouble."
After, Djehuti and Izra's astute observations, the Band of the Black Fire decides to really take their time looking about.
First they open the Northern door, only to find themselves immediately beset by water! But with the trap disarmed it does little more than pool around their ankles and then slowly goes away. Thankfully, they had thought to close the door with the mummies so that their remains were not in any way disturbed or damaged by the water.
The party dries themselves, has a lunch and then continues searching. Eventually Torin discovers another secret entrance on the West side of the room.
They open the door and find a small hall and some stairs. They also immediately notice a door off to their left, along the south wall. But it is locked.
Koshukhep strode down the steps to examine the far doors (without ever actually touching them), and then returned to the party.
"How fares the door opening?" he asked, poking his head over Kwin's shoulder curiously. His mane tickled the kitsune's long ear."Have you need of my crowbar?"
Among friends and chapeau long abondoned, Kwin's ear twitches in response to Koshukhep's annoyance. "Not helping," the kitsune grumbles good-naturedly as he continues to tinker with the lock. "This one's a little tricky, but let's not resort to brute force just yet."
Kwin sits back on his haunches and exhales in relief. "Got it."
Unrepentant, Koshukhep ruffled Kwin's hair. Then he eyed the door. "You have checked it for traps?"
Kwin laughs. "Don't rely on my trapfinding skills if you value your hide! Best get Torin over here."
Torin and Kwin are pretty sure there aren't any traps. And eventually Kwin manages to defeat the "simple" lock.
The doors swing inwards.
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Still finishing up his sketching, Djehuti looks up briefly to peer through the now open door.