Jamie doesn't notice anything untoward about the hidden door.
"Probably slaves," Uthe comments at the discovery of the wrapped bodies. "Like the pets, they received a reward of death for their loyalty." She sneers at the idea.
Jamie cautiously slips through the hidden door to see what's on the other side.
Just as Jamie touches the hidden door, a loud howl of wind rushes through the room and a ravenous swarm of cockroaches appears!
Jazadi screams in terror and bolts out the door.
"To live and die alongside the person you admired... or who simply was your liege. Perhaps similar convictions persist even tod-" says Ammom, right before all hell breaks loose.
"Quick! Uthe, didn't those potions on your belt explode!?" he cries, as he falls back to her side, intent on taking one to throw.
Meanwhile, he looks around the room for a structural weakness.
"They considered it an honor. No matter how strange that seems to us." Say'ri says from her position near the secret door.
"Did the pets have that same choice?" Uthe responds before a swarm of nasty, icky, yuckiness descends upon them.
Grabbing a vial hanging from her bandolier, the amurrun flings it in the direction of the chittering, skittering threat.
Dhakira is impressed by the competence of her companions to find traps and secret doors. ''Congratulations Jamie, we might owe you our lives. And good eyes for those secret doors, I thought I was good to notice unusual stonework, but I would have missed those. '' You noticed when she says that last part that she seems upset about not seeing the secret doors herself. ''I should be able to do better, I was raised for that!''
To Uthe ''It's sometimes difficult to chose between what you think your Gods wants of you and what you think is right. I don't think these people were evil, but maybe misguided.''
''Uthe, I'll asked Pharasma to give extra protection against the attacks of these gross insects!'' She places her hand on Uthe's arm and casts Resistance. Then she moves away from the swarm.
Jamie screams and back pedals from the swarm. She pulls a flask of acid from her belt and throws it at the bugs!
The swarm is very slightly burned from the acid and fire but continues to emit a loud buzz and they surround Jamie.
Dhakira comes back in the room and casts Guidance on Uthe
Jamie shrieks again as the bugs swarm all over her. She swats them off of her hair and body as she moves back again and throws more acid.
Jazadi fumbles with her backpack, dropping it to the floor and yanking a torch out of it. She starts trying to light it while the roaches start climbing all over Jamie.
Ammon quickly reaches into his backpack and draws out a flask of oil, hoping to make use of the fire the thing was already in. "Either of you, please move aside!" he calls to Dhakira and Uthe.
When/if one of them does and a clear line of fire opens up to the swarm, he moves forward slightly and throws the oil flask into the burning swarm.
At Ammon's request, Uthe moves around the swarm, near to Say'ri, but she doesn't move to throw any more of the volatile flasks.
The swarm of cockroaches continues to burn further before just snapping out of existence with no sign that it had ever appeared before.
---
Continuing through the door, which this time opens without anymore surprises, you find yourselves in a very narrow corridor that sharply angles further down. After 30ft or so you are confronted with a small, seemingly unlocked door.
Jamie pats herself down to make sure the cockroaches are really gone. "Well, that was... unpleasant. An experience I'd rather not repeat."
She gives the new door a wary eye and takes extra time to search it before stepping aside and letting Ammon open it!
Jazadi lights the torch in time to see the swarm of cockroaches abruptly disappear. "...excuse me? No, I refuse to believe they're gone that easily! Cockroaches don't just up and disappear in the blink of an eye!"
Ammon opens the door heroically and reveals the impressive chamber before you and he takes a single step inside.
A sarcophagus covered in gold leaf rests on a raised stone platform in the center of this chamber. The casket’s cover is carved the likeness of an adult man with his arms crossed over his chest, and covered in thick coat of dust. Two ornate chests sit beyond the dais in the northeast and southeast corners, and between them stand two large funerary urns. There are no other entrances or exits.
Jazadi starts scrutinizing the interior of the chamber for anything out of place.
"They appeared just as suddenly. A magical trap summoned them, it would seem," Jamie muses. "Good riddance!"
She helps Jazadi search around.
"...blasted cockroaches getting everywhere and into your mattress and then you panic and inform the landlord and end up with an extermination team in your dorm and the rest of your dormmates glaring at you..." Jazadi mutters to herself as she works.
As you begin to search the room for any dangers before looking at the treasures too closely, both Jamie and Jazadi catch the glimpse of movement from the corner of their eyes just a fraction too late!
From just behind the stone dais, a creature that resembles a small, metallic cobra with a body made of overlapping iron plates and eyes of pinpoints of red light springs out and attempts to bite Jazadi!
The bite injects poison from a hidden reservoir within its body. Save Fort DC 11; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Con damage; cure 1 save.
By some miracle, the cobra's fangs miss Jazadi's veins. They still open up a bad bite in her wrist. "OW!"
Trusting in luck to see her through, she unlimbers her sword and stabs at the snake!
Then she stumbles back away from it.
Jamie winces as the cobra bites Jazadi. "Step back!" the halfling shouts before hurling her last acid flask!
This is an arcane construct - Iron Cobra!
Ammon blinks a bit on the sudden disappearance of the entire swarm and also figures it was probably a magical summon of some kind with a limited duration. Lucky them? Was that a measure of cutting costs or just a magical limitation of what could be done?
"You all right, miss Jamie?" he asks, just as he opens the door. "Those things have nasty bites. Real horror when there's an infestation of them on a ship at sea."
When the more skilled members of the groups search, he decides to simply move to the center of the room a bit and watch out for any more sudden danger.
"Sounds like you have plenty of experience with them too, miss Jazadi? Do the Arkenstone experiments involve breeding the insects or some such?" he asks, curious.
Of course, just as he finishes speaking, the party gets jumped. Again. That would show him to lower his guard even for a second!
He rushes forward and attempts to squish this strangely metallic snake under his hammer!
"An iron cobra?! Of COURSE one of these would be here--don't try to cast spells on it, they're quite resistant to them!" Jazadi informs the rest of the band. "Their hides are also rather resistant to damage!"
"Sounds like you have plenty of experience with them too, miss Jazadi? Do the Arkenstone experiments involve breeding the insects or some such?"
"Not if those responsible want to keep their scholarships, they don't."
"Not to state the obvious, but what DOES work on them, then?" Ammon asks, just as his swing fails to inflict significant damage.
"Hit them really hard! And dousing them in acid seems to work!"
"You all right, miss Jamie?"
Jamie looks up at Ammon. "I've had worse. I'll rub some salve on my body later to mitigate the pain from the bugs' bites. And please, don't call me 'Miss.' Just... Just Jamie will suffice."
When the cockroaches finally vanish, Uthe nods as if that's entirely what she expected of magically summoned pests. She glances again at Say'ri to see if the flash of something close to fear was still there, but it had vanished as well. She opens her mouth to say something, but with a shake of her head that causes the bells in her ears to ring, she thinks better of it.
~~~~~
The amurrun gets an annoyed look on her face that Jazadi would know more about arcane constructs than she did. That didn't mean that she wasn't going to heed the advice, though. She refrains from expending more limited resources against something that was resistant to them.
When Say'ri announces her intention to use her oh-so-loud weapon again, Uthe claps her hands over her oh-so-sensitive ears.
The cobra strikes out again at Jamie this time; in the tiny space, its hard to move elsewhere! Fortunately it doesn't manage to sink its teeth in!
-5
Jazadi stabs at the cobra again, still trying her luck!
Ammon moved around a bit and figured that he surely had a good shot at it while the snake was occupied with attacking Jamie?
Deciding that she's going to try anyway, Uthe speaks quick words and sends a bolt of magical energy at the metal serpent. As foretold, however, the spell fizzles before striking the construct.
Jamie yelps in terror as the cobra lunges at her. She bravely runs away!
Dhakira is surprised to see the cockroaches disappear as if by magic, then understand when Jamie confirms that it was magic. She follows the group in the next room.
Worried that Jazadi was poisoned by the bite of the serpent, she casts Resistance on her. ''Here Jazadi, to help against the poison''
The cobra lunges again this time at Jazadi, as it has no other option.
''Oh no Jazadi!'' She grabs her spiral pendant.''Pharasma, please send us your healing energy.''
Jazadi stumbles, then steadies as Dhakira's healing keeps her on her feet.
She stabs again...
...but as she starts to stab, the burning starts in her arm. "...I don't feel so good..."
The cobra clatters against the wall with Say'ri 's shot and falls still.
Jazadi collapses to the floor as the burning in her arm spreads to the rest of her body. "...ow..."
"...we need to rest."