Nym takes interest in the lantern and point to the mural on the wall. "Hey look here, that lantern looks just like this one. Maybe this is more than just a pretty picture. Instructions perhaps? In any case, we should hold onto it."
He gestures towards the green glow, "Let's continue our investigation."
Snapping her fingers Ashlynn pulls out some blank parchment (which she has difficulty finding) and begins scribbling notes with some ink and a pen she keeps in her pouch. After a minute and a couple of ink stains later, she sighs with satisfaction.
“There! Ready now. I got the basic details down in case we need to review them later.”
"It was in the wolves' den. Maybe it will be useful further in." Krios remarks, turning towards the green light up ahead. Brandishing his blade once more, the hunter would take the lead into that nightmarish light to see what else the cairn had to offer to them.
"Hand me the torch." Krios asks of his companions, setting the flame to the cobwebs.
A few moments pass as someone rummages through their pack for torch and flint. Then a few more as flint and steel are struck, the sound echoing through the large chamber. Finally, the torch catches and lends it's flickering light to the steady illumination of Ashlynn's crossbow.
One touch of the flame to the cobwebs sets off a chain reaction, as the flames spread out along the quickly burning filament. There is an occasional flare as either spider or egg sack is caught in the flame; though numerous, the spiders were not a size to have been a danger.
Finally all of the webs are consumed, leaving only wisps of smoke hanging in the air. Whiteclaw sneezes delicately as one wisp of smoke touches his nose.
Without the obscuring webs, the green light from beyond shines brighter, as a set of descending stairs is revealed.
Smiling casually, Ashlynn whispers to herself.
"Cool."
"That looks...not great. I'll be honest." Khatín sighs.
"Indeed. Still...we must go forward." With the torch in one hand and his blade in the other, perched on his shoulder, Krios would move down the stairs and into the green, terrible light. A chill runs down his spine slowly as he does so before he steels himself.
Khatín follows Krios down the stairs.
Ashlynn moves right behind Khatin, magical light illuminating the stairs as she goes.
"Yup. Down the stairs."
As the group descends the stairs, each notices that the dust and dirt prevalent in the earlier part of the cairn is nowhere to be found. The finely laid stones of the stairs are immaculate.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the explorers gaze upon a wondrous sight: an immense domed chamber. Seven short tunnels branch from the room in all directions, extending some 30ft before ending in rounded walls. At the terminus of each passage, a thick chain dangles from an unseen high ceiling. Five of the chains bear colorful lanterns, but two hold nothing at all. Opposite the entry stairs, a bright green lantern containing what looks like a torch casts a weird, murky light about the room. Countless chips of glass an shiny metal inserted into the chamber's domed ceiling reflect this light, giving the impression of starlight and falling snow. The dome starts about ten feet off of the ground and reaches an apex about thirty feet over the center of the room.
Below the dome's peak, a long dais holds what appears to be a marble sarcophagus. A milky white bas-relief figure, perhaps of a human , rests passively upon the sarcophagus. Unlike the rest of the tomb, this room is completely silent.
Smiling in a disturbing way, Ashlynn starts past everyone and moves to examine the sarcophagus without touching it, then moves to look closer at the Green Lantern, and the rest of the area. Without much thought she casts a Detect Magic Cantrip to get a second glance...
Krios looks over the area with narrowed eyes, his heritage making the room that much brighter. A small sigh escaped his lips as he looked down at the sarcophagus, shaking his head slightly.
"I hate this." Ashlynn moves ahead and begins to examine the sarcophagus. At first, the elf quickly moved to try and stop her but saw her resist the urge to touch the marble resting place of some humanoid creature.
"It is too quiet." Krios says to the others, Whitepaw weaving between his legs as he stalks about the room. Each colored lantern was noted before he looked towards the purple one they had found and the green one hanging up above.
"You mentioned that there were colors up above, in the mural, right? Maybe this is a puzzle of some sort." Krios states as he studies the bas relief. He reaches down and feels for the marble index finger, looking to see if the figure is missing it.
"What is it you're -" Khatín changes tack, "you're looking to see if anything is magic...right?" she asks Ashlynn, following behind her as they looks around the chamber.
"Yes, this looks just like the mural."
Nym heads over to check out the sarcophagus on the dais and surveys the room.
The sarcophagus sits upon a raised platform, itself crafted in the shape of a stylistic arrow. The lid bears a white stone relief of a tall figure cloaked in a simple garment of flowing cloth. It's difficult to say why , exactly, but the outfit conjures thoughts of ancient times. The figure at first looks human, but a cursory examination reveals that it is about 7 feet tall, is completely hairless and is of indeterminate sex. It's arms and hands rest at its side. The left hand curls upon itself in a fist, but the right is place face up, with the thumb turned in and all but the index finger held parallel to the arm. Th index finger has been broken off...
The figure wears a scarab-like amulet around the neck, inscribed with another glyph, similar to what you found on the apparatus.
Ashlynn walks around the sarcophagus and it's platform and becomes certain that the platform will rotate if pushed.
When her senses are enhanced by her cantrip, she sees the magical emanations from the torch in the green lantern. There is also a magical aura coming from the sarcophagus. Both are emanating auras of the evocation school of magic.
You are certain that the marble finger you have is a match to the one missing on the sarcophagus
Khatin notices that in each alcove, a 5ft circular diameter circle is carved into the floor, directly beneath each lantern, or chain where the lanterns are missing
Nym examines the sarcophagus, and is certain that, like the other glyph they found on the apparatus, this is another proper name.
He is positive that the figure depicted is not human.
Nodding in certainty, Ashlynn will talk excitedly. However, her voice is also steady and clear as she explains as if speaking to a room of students.
"The Sarcophagi and the torch IN the green lantern, not the lantern itself, are emanating evocation magic. That's the magic of elements like fire and lightning, usually meant to harm someone or something...but not always. The Sarcophagi is also arrow-shaped and I think can be manually turned if pushed with enough strength. This is some sort of lock, or trick-trap to keep out the unwary by my best estimation. However...I am uncertain how to move forward without more data to extrapolate from. Or without more than likely 'dangerous' experimentation."
After her explanation of what she thinks is finished, she will finally look around at the others a bit sheepishly.
"Apologies. Such things fascinate me."
"Definitely not human..."
At Ashlynn information, Nym looks at the Sarcophagus warily. "Might be trapped then. Probably shouldn't mess around with it until we're sure."
While cautiously examining the stonework, he asks the others, "Are the lantern chains connected to anything, or is there anything in alcoves to hint at what the colours mean?"
Nym begins a very slow, very methodical examination of the outside of the sarcophagus...
You are certain that should anyone open the lid of the sarcophagus, something will be triggered!
"No," Khatín says, crouching and looking up at the lamps, "but there is a circle carved into the floor, beneath each lantern. Even the ones that have no lanterns. They're about as wide as I am tall. Perhaps a little smaller."
Ashlynn glances at Nym squinting with one eye.
"Let's start small? Who has the statue's broken finger? See if it can be reattached to the statue. It may be a key of some sort...but be ready to remove it quickly if something odd starts happening."
"I have the finger." Krios says, speaking up. He moves beside the sarcophagus, taking the cold marble finger from his pocket. Giving a look to the others, he carefully moves to place it back where it had been broken from.
As Khatin moves from alcove to alcove, looking at the lamps and carves circles in the floor, she stops, puzzled. She had just moved from the blue lamp to the indigo lamp and noticed something.
Returning to the blue lamp, she raised her torch and saw that she was right. In all of the alcoves, except the one with the blue torch, one can see the ceiling, where the chain holding the lantern was attached. In the blue alcove, she found that she could not see the ceiling...it was hidden by the darkness above.
Then when turning to leave, she noticed a skeleton laying in the shadows to one side.
All watched as Krios slowly placed the marble finder onto the sarcophagus, seeing that it was a perfect match. Holding his breath, he pushed it up against the marble hand and stepped back....
After a moment or two, the tension that had built up faded as nothing at all happened.
"Well...that is that then, I suppose." Krios says after they all share a moment holding their breath. Whitepaw yawns and scratches behind their ear.
Ashlynn taps her bottom lip for a moment, then asks Krios a question.
"Can it be removed again? Or is the finger now 're-attached'? The more data we get, the quicker we can figure this all out."
"Well..." Khatín speaks quietly, "...there is a skeleton lying against the wall over here." She points up above the blue lamp as everyone looks over to her. "And I can't see the ceiling in this alcove, but I can in the others."
"There's something tied to opening the lid. Don't know what it is, but given that this is crypt, probably something bad. Maybe I can disable it, though."
The skeleton bears a number of crushed bones, as if the unlucky fellow died from a great fall.
Nym pokes and prods at the sarcophagus, but pokes or prods the wrong spot, causing a jet of flame to erupt from underneath the lid.
Though your investigation was a failure, you did glean the following information: the trap is magical, and therefore quite hard to disarm. Also, as you moved about the sarcophagus, you had the chance to glance at the new sigil on the carved figure. An insight came to your mind...that the glyphs were a kind of grouping of syllables. With your knowledge, however limited of Vaati, you came to the conclusion that the name depicted on the sarophagus was : Zosiel. You'd have to re-examine the glyph on the other apparatus to determine that name.
Hmmm...perhaps this is what distracted you enough to mistakenly trigger the trap. :)
His instincts rusty from living the good life in town, Nym doesn't even flinch as the gout of flames wash over him. Stumbling back, singed and blistered, he lets out a string of curses. "Definitely trapped. But I think I'm getting the handle on the rune structure of the writing. I think this fellow's name was Zosiel, if that means anything to anyone."
Still smoldering, he wanders over to the skeleton. "Looks like impact trauma. The level of damages suggests that they fell a goodly ways before they hit the floor."
Squinting, he looks up. "I wonder what's up there that was worth dying for."
Hesitantly walking over, Ashlynn speaks softly in a language full of harsh consonants (Ignan) and taps Nym on the shoulder, causing it to warm up comfortably for a moment, then the healing energy erases the minor burns away.
"Sorry about that. I think the sarcophagus is meant to distract us. It may be needed for something here, but I have a feeling we are not really meant to open it successfully. 'Zosiel' you say huh...?"
She then looks up at the high ceiling the others found and points.
"Maybe that's the way out...and he or she fell trying to make the climb. Could be all this 'frufru' stuff is just a distraction from the actual entrance."
Khatín stares at Nym wide-eyed, before slowly reaching out to pinch out a tiny flame that was still burning on his back. "You uh, you missed a spot."
- The sarcophagus is magically trapped.
- the finger was taken from the sarcophagus relief.
- The glyph on the figure spells the name Zosiel
- Each alcove has a different colored lantern, except red and indigo ( but you have the indigo lantern)
- Each alcove has a circular stone carved into the floor.
- Each lantern chain can be seen to attach to the roof, except the blue one, the ceiling cannot be seen.
- Skeleton found in blue alcove, death by fall.
- The sarcophagus appears to be on a platform. It seem it can be turned..currently pointing at the orange alcove.
- the sarcophagus relief is of a person that is not human
The name Zosiel stirs a memory of a time when her Master had been holding forth on this and that about ancient history, trying desperately to broaden Ashlynn's education. She remembers her Master reciting a number of strange names ,in relation to some ancient battle...she wasn't really paying attention. However , she realized now that those names bore a striking resemblance to this name: Zosiel. Plus she remembers her master mentioning a particular book in relation to these names: The Chronicle of Chan
Suddenly startled by her memory, Ashlynn nearly drops her crossbow and gasps out.
”The Book! The Chronicle of…of…Chan! Yes! That’s it! The name Zosiel is…related to this book. I remember my master mentioning both within the same minute in a lecture or similar. Ancient history…an ancient battle!”
"An ancient battle?"
Krios jumps back as a trap activates, covering the elven man in flame for a moment. When he steps out of the flame, coughing and burnt but still alive, a breath that the elven hunter had not realized he was holding was released. He gave a small look towards Nym, watching to see if the man was truly alright even after Ashlynn's healing touch. Once he was sure that he was alright, he would rummage through his back and take out the purple lantern.
"An ancient battle? Zosiel? None of these names mean anything to me." Krios says, shrugging lightly. "It'll likely interest our employer though. Good work." With the lit torch he had burned the cobwebs with, he would place it inside of the lantern and nod to the others. "I am going to place it where it belong. Perhaps it'll trigger something. Be on your guard."
Krios would whisper to Whitepaw to stay put, the cougar complaining in soft mewls as their master made their way down the hallway towards the hook before securing it where it seemed to belong.
Renewing her light spell, Ashlynn then moves back toward the statue and starts up her 'detect magic' cantrip again to see if there are any magical changes when Krios places the lantern.
"I'm not bad at climbing...but that does look daunting."
Facinating... reminds me of one of those boring exams and lesions that I sat through while hungover.
Gotta say this spooky looking bastard has me beat, you guys have been very thoughtful and thorough.
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Krios lifts the lantern up and hooks it over the hook dangling at the end of the chain. Releasing it, the lantern swings back and forth....and nothing of notice happens.
The only change you notice is the Evocation aura you noticed on the sarcophagus slowly fades away, probably due to it exploding in Nym's face ....but nothing else.
Looking up , you're pretty sure you could use the chain to help any ascent...
- The sarcophagus is magically trapped.
- the finger was taken from the sarcophagus relief.
- The glyph on the figure spells the name Zosiel
- Each alcove has a different colored lantern, except red and indigo ( but you have the indigo lantern)
- Each alcove has a circular stone carved into the floor.
- Each lantern chain can be seen to attach to the roof, except the blue one, the ceiling cannot be seen.
- Skeleton found in blue alcove, death by fall.
- The sarcophagus appears to be on a platform. It seem it can be turned..currently pointing at the orange alcove.
- the sarcophagus relief is of a person that is not human
- placing the indigo lantern on it's chain did not produce a noticable effect.
Ashlynn bites her lip demurely, then opens her mouth.
"Oh look! The magical trap on the sarcophagus has dissipated! For now at least... It could regenerate as some magical traps do. Nym? It should be safe to look closer now. We could try and open the sarcophagus..."
She then looks at the various lanterns.
"Out of everything else now only that 'torch-like' flame of the green lantern is magical. Anything else here should be mechanical or similar in nature...if there is another trap or control."
Maybe we try turning it towards the indigo light now?
Khatín nods at Borden absentmindedly, peering into the darkness above her. She gives the chain a light tug, testing if it is strong enough to hold her. "Try it."