Well this is nice, for once. Edgar gestures to the tapestry. If that's in condition to be moved, it should be worth a decent amount. He laughs. Bet the statues come to life and beat our homs if we go in.
It was...sandy Cardshark shrugs.
You find no traps, but both set of doors are locked. Lucien sets to work and gets the lock open.
This short hallway narrows sharply to the west, descending to set of stairs that abruptly ends at a rough rock wall.
Hard of hearing -4
The tunnel appears to have been abandonded before excavation was completed, but Lucien notices what might be a secret passage on the north. But there are no mechanisms to open it... perhaps it was meant to be opened from the other side.
Olivia, who seems far more engrossed in the scrolls you found in the first room than what you have found here, says "I think this was meant to be a tomb for his mistress, but it seems no arrangements for money to continue after his death were made, so they likely just stopped."
Maybe she joined him in the tomb. Heard they did that. Always thought it was a bit rough of the girl. You know, "your boy has offed it, so you have to as well."
He laughs darkly as he looks for traps. Gets her out of the inheritance.
Nothing looks dangerous, and the door is also locked - but well within Lucien's skill set. The lock clicks and the doors pop open, revealing stairs down to more double doors. Those are not locked (or trapped), so you continue, finding the same situation again.
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.
The statues depict the ancient Osirian god Anubis.
Edgar is following along, looking warily at anything carved into the shape of something that moves, or particularly large collections of sand.
Zholan savage custom, he pitches in. Barbaric, even. Looking around at the gloomy confines, and back upstairs at the hidden door that opens from the other side, he adds Know what it is? We open the wrong thing down here and whatever's behind that door comes out and traps us in here. Should go back up and jam it somehow.
”Really?” Brannin said, with concern. ”Right. So we can just drag something heavy to block the doors, right? So if they close we’ll still have space to squeeze through.”
Lucien sees no traps on the stairs.
Maybe. Depends how bloodyminded he was.
+2 to prior perception
Edgar is looking around nervously, expecting an attack from any quarter.
Standing with his back facing Edgar, Brannin likewise scanned for danger. His pistol was held in his organic left hand, and he used his metallic right to stabilize it. He was certain that between the two of them, nothing would get the jump on them.
Edgar notices secret doors to both the east and the west, and while Lucien and Cardshark are both attempting to be cautious, they don't notice the traps that they have walked into.
The sarcophagus pops open, and lifts upwards to snap at Lucien!
At the same time, the southern doors slam shut, locking you in. Bolts of electricity arc between the pillars, striking Lucien and Cardshark (Reflex DC 15 save for 1/2 damage). And then the northern doors burst open with tons of water pouring in!
Cardshark screams as electricity arcs over him, then collapses.
Ow, that hurt
He picks himself up. Bits of him are smoking
Grakh!
Edgar, seeing the electricity arcing and the water pouring in, calls back to Brannin and Olivia by the southern door. See if you can push it open! He rushes to where he saw the outline of a secret door to the west, and tries to open it, first by finding a mechanism and then if it fails by main force.
Edgar fails to make any progress on the door, and Lucien slips in the water as he tries to hit the moving coffin. Luckily, this also causes the sarcophagus to miss as well.
"Amazing work of engineering." Branning said as he moved around to the other side of the coffin. "I can't imagine even making one of these nowadays." He continued as he slammed his metallic fist into the construct. "I wonder how they made it?"
Cardshark just opens up on the coffin
Brannin steps in and smacks the moving coffin, as Cardshark takes a potshot at it, putting a very small hole in it.
The water continues to pour in, and is now about 6 inches deep.
Secret door over here! Edgar calls out to Lucian, as he rushes up to him. As he runs he draws his boarding axe--Bolvag stone monsters, should have picked up a club and, raging, slashes at the attacking sarcophagus.
The animated coffin tries to snap up Edgar.
Olivia turns, not knowing what to do with the water, and takes a shot at the sarcophagus. She almost hits Lucien.
Brannin pounded on the construct, a perturbed look on his face. ”Hate to say it, but we might need to run. Not much profit in dying!”
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Damned if a fancy coffin will stop my cash
Cardshark takes careful aim, and fires again
Brannin cracks it again, but a very resolute Cardshark stands up and blasts a large hole in the side, apparently destroying whatever mechanism inside was allowing it to function.
Despite the respite from an attacking sarcophagus, the water level continues to rise, now hitting about 2 feet deep.
There's probably a similar one on the other side,[b] Edgar says, gesturing to the opposite wall. [b]Let's open some kind of door, best one that leads up, before we drown. Water source can wait.
He looks over at Brannin. Can you help bashing one of them open? Let Lucian try it the smart way?
"I'd prefer not to drown." Brannin agreed, as he went to try the brute force method, if needed. He hoped that the secret door that was found wouldn't need any kind of effort to open.
Edgar assists Brannin in trying to force the door.
Round after round, the water continues to rise, and you have no luck forcing a door open. At about 2 feet deep, though, it seems to stop pouring in. You look at each other, wondering and worrying what comes next, but nothing does.
Meanwhile, Lucien realizes this was a false tomb, filled with fake treasures.. a worthless trap for thieves!
A few minutes later, the water starts draining from the room. ”Maybe they miscalculated what it would take to drown us?” Olivia suggests.
The side doors click unlocked. Sounds like they were barred from inside or the other side, and so it would have taken a pretty good beating to crash through the wall.
Lucien does note that while a false tomb, the gold leaf on the sarcophagus could be salvaged - probably $50 in real gold! But it will take about a half hour to scrape it all off.
Cardshark pulls out a knife to start scraping gold, unless someone says stop.
Edgar looks over at the doors that clicked open. What do you bet something else comes in through there to bother us? He spits, clearing his mouth from the battle stress. Or was meant to, at least.
Looking back at the door we came in, he gives a shrug. Didn't expect trouble from this quarter either. Wish we could go back up to where we've been storing what we found, check on it and rest up a bit.
"Well, complaints are like a#@&$*&+s. Everyone has them, and they're usually full of shyt." Brannin said. "We're here now, and Cardshark has the right idea in scaping the gold. Let's focus on how much money we're going to make when we sell all of this."
Let's focus on getting out of here to sell it, Edgar says, turning back to the south door. Despite what this guy thought--he gestures to the sarcophagus--You can't take anything with you when you die.
True enough. But if I can't take it with me, I'm not going/ Cardshark jokes while scraping.
There are the local army doctors...but only if you are real desperate