With the scorpion dead, the donkey slowly calms itself, although the whites of its eyes continue to be visible and it snorts its disgruntlement repeatedly. Fortunately, although it appears to have taken damage from the scorpion's pincers, there is no sign it was poisoned.
Attempt to calm the donkey and apply a bandage to its wound. Then proced back to the tomb entrance.
Hmm perhaps a pair of guard dogs for the future.
Ashar manages to settle the animal down somewhat.
The tomb entrance, with its large stone circle doorway, remains where you left it.
Ashar manages to settle the animal down somewhat.
Well, then. Shall we continue to explore the tomb? I believe Ashar's and Q'urtaz's efforts should not go to waste. And young Slurk, it appears you will remain with us for a little while longer. Illuria moves back, ducking her head to clear the initial entryway. She approaches the passage opened by the stone and leans forward, allowing a few of her snakes past her veil to peek around the corner.
"We have no illusions that this will be our hardest fought battle, but you all handled that beast bravely and well. Let us continue to move forward, into the past."
A closer examination of the room beyond the rolled-stone doorway reveals little more than your first glimpse did. It is a square room. starkly devoid of any markings or adornment. In the center of the chamber’s floor is a square shaft that drops straight down into darkness. A faint musty odor rises from the pit. A single piton has been hammered into the stone floor by the northeast corner of the pit, and a dusty length of rope dangles from the piton into the darkness of the shaft.
"Let me help the beast."
Once Slurk indicates it is safe to proceed, Q'urtaz will move into the room and peer down into the darkness .
Q'urtaz cannot see the bottom of the shaft in the range of his darkvision, but he can see that there appears to be some kind of larger open space about fifty feet down.
"Looks like the shaft opens into the ceiling of a room below, but I cannot make out the floor from here." He looks back toward the doorway to the tomb. "It's deeper to the new chamber than I am from the door. We will need extra rope."
Slurk pokes his numb side with curiosity. "Yes, yes, Slurk will live it seems. Mighty Nubis overlooks Slurk again, which is fine with Slurk." The kobold pads into the new room, giving a look down the pit by the rock man. "Neither can Slurk," the kobold replies, and begins pulling the rope up to the top of the shaft to examine it for safety, as well as how far down it goes.
The rope is only about five feet long, apparently cut at that length from the frayed end. As Slurk touches the rope, it crumbles to dust.
Best to use the new rope Ashar has procured, Illuria observes. She moves her sinewy body around the opening in the floor and peers down as well, curious. If we have enough, we should knot the rope at regular intervals. It would make climbing easier. She frowns a bit to herself, contemplating the upcoming descent.
"Bad rope," Slurk says, wiping the hemp dust from his hands. "Looked cut, not snapped. At least two came before us - at least one left behind down there."
Curious that the cut was so far down. I wonder if it was a treacherous accomplice or some sort of mechanical appparatus. Either way, I will fetch the rope and other likely supplies off of the poor donkey. I am sure he will be happy to shed the weight. I acquired 150ft of rope; surely that will suffice. Though, if one of you can cast a spell of Light on a stone and cast it down, that may help to illuminate the situation.
With that terrible pun, Ashar leaves and returns with almost the entire load from the Donkey. Leaving the enormous tent and most of the water skins.
While we knot what length we may of the rope to ease climbing, I will be asking our scholars what they determined of the panels in the entryway so that I can record it for both the epic I will compose and to aid the Pharasmans in updating their histories.
The shaft turns out to be about 50 feet long, and the floor beneath it another 10 feet below that. The softly-glowing stone bounces a few times on the floor; when it comes to rest, it does so against a small, dark-brown shape that you are able to recognize after a few moments as a boot, laying on its side. Any owner or current occupant is out of sight beyond the edge of the shaft.
Gesturing toward the boot, Q'urtaz looks at Slurk and says, "Found one."
Q'urtaz watches the boot below for any movement before committing to climbing down. If anyone else makes a move to climb down, he holds up on stony palm. "A moment..."
"Slurk will cover you, rock man," the kobold whispers, standing at the edge of the pit and sighting down his barrel to see what lies beyond.
Illuria loads her crossbow and takes up a position opposite the kobold, peering into the depths of the well.
The boot continues to lay there.
With a rumbling chuckle, Q'urtaz replies, "A generous offer, little one. However, if I am to climb, I will have to shed some gear." With a glance at Bes, he steps back and begins to remove his armor, tucking the various pieces into his pack where possible or tying them to hang from the pack otherwise.
Having left the vicious guard donkey to watch the door, Ashar climbs down and begins to vaguely look around the new chamber before doing anything else.
Mirrored images of a warrior in side profile, facing inward, are carved on an ornate pair of stone doors in the west wall of this square room. The figure is depicted wearing padded armor, with a scarab-shaped shield on the arm facing the viewer, and a raised khopesh held aloft in the other. A crumpled humanoid body lies directly in front of the doors, a softly glowing stone next to its boot. A hint of decay hangs in the air, and a dried stain mars the stone floor under the body. A square shaft in the ceiling leads straight up into darkness, from which your rope dangles.
Using his scimitar, Q'urtaz will poke the body to ascertain, hopefully, that it is not animated.
With no obvious danger about, Ashar takes out some paper and begins to sketch the carvings on the walls and the ornate door. He does however keep his staff tucked in his arm in case he missed some danger.
Excellent craftsmanship. This man must have been a notable warrior to receive such tribute. I hope we can gain a full understanding of his tale.
The body in front of the doors is mostly skeletal, with a thin layer of desiccated tissue. It bears the faded and largely-decayed equipment of an adventurer.
The oread takes a moment to search the body, mostly looking for identifying marks.
Illuria descends the rope headfirst, coiling cautiously and smoothly until she reaches the floor. She then draws herself up to study her surroundings. She checks the corpse with an eye toward what might have killed it, then glances about at the room.
Qur'taz cannot identify the individual; any such traces are long gone from the remains, which must be decades old at least. (Deserts can make such things hard to judge.) Most of the corpse's equipment is ruined and useless, including the dusty remains of a piece of rope, but five items appear salvageable: two pitons, a climbing hammer, and what looks like two sealed jars of alchemist's fire.
Illuria, perhaps more familiar with humanoid remains for some reason, is able to say a bit more about the body. It was a human or half-elf, male, and both his legs were broken due to a fall from a great height. He apparently crawled toward the door in the western wall before dying.
Nodding, "So it seems our theory still holds. Good."
He stows the pitons and the hammer in his pack. He offers the jars to the others.
Wrap the body in a blanket and set it to the side so that we can see it properly interred when we leave.
Well, it would seem we have already made it farther than this poor fellow. To the door?
Slurk nods, and begins heading towards the door, his eyes peeled for deadfalls and the like.
Climbing down the rope as gracefully as such things allow, Bes picks up the glowing stone and tucks it under one of the leather thongs wrapped around each wrist.
"The guardians of the tomb will keep watch on this unfortunate man until we return, for certain. Slurk, please lead the way."
Nodding at the ifrit's actions, Q'urtaz rumbles, "Proper respect considering the moment. Anubis approves."
The door looks heavy, but does not appear to be barred or sealed.
"Looks safe to Slurk," the kobold says, slinking away from the door to let someone bigger and stronger open it.
Q'urtaz defers to the ifrit, if he wishes, or will make the attempt with him.
Illuria slides to the door and studies it before assisting. Our poor friend suffered a bad fall and broke his legs before he perished. Nothing to suggest anything supernatural about his departure from this sphere, she makes conversation while putting the considerable muscles of her tail to use in trying to move the door.
The medusa's aid is more than enough, and the glow of Bes' stone now reveals a straight, thirty-five-foot-long passage. The walls of the ten-foot-wide corridor feature bas-relief carvings of great battles. Armies with spears and shields clash at the direction of generals, while other leaders direct troops from chariots that are ruthlessly overrunning their enemies. Another set of engraved stone double doors stand at the far end of the hallway.
"If I were the suspicious type..." Leaving the statement unfinished, Q'urtaz looks down at the kobold.
"Slurk not do it!", the kobold says reflexively as the rock man looks down at him. He backs away a few steps, then realizes what the rock man meant. "Oh. Oh! Yes, Slurk look for traps." He begins to pad down the passageway, his eyes darting between the ground, walls and ceiling for signs of deathtraps.
Illuria will observe from outside the hallway.
Go on ahead young Slurk, I am still sketching this set of carvings