Hissing to stop everyone's movement, she almost squeals when everyone looks at her. She then points as she speaks.
"A trap! I see a trap! I knew I could do this job...I mean...Don't move further. There is a floor switch there and the face has definite magic on it: Enchantment and Transmutation."
Krios stops with a perfect stillness, the arrow still taut and glowing. Not a muscle moves as she investigates the switch on the floor and the magic emanating from it.
Khatín claps Ashlynn on the shoulder, nodding seriously at her, a small smile on her face.
Well if this doesn't increase my curiosity eh?
Ashlynn blushes at Khatin's silent praise, and then quickly pinches her own nose roughly to get her own smile to go away.
"So do we go forward, or back? Should most of us climb down again and then let one of us try and set off the trap carefully? Or can we disarm it...Somehow?"
A trap? Mac asks as he hustles forward. Let me see if I can disable it.
Ashlynn tries to help...
Khatín nervously backs toward the edge. "Whoah, we should get out of this tunnel before we are launched out unceremoniously."
Much like the rest of the tomb, Ashlynn and Mac find the pressure plate to be of superior craftsmanship. They know that it will activate whatever the face will do, but both sit back scratching their heads, unaware of how to disable the device.
"If we have no way of disabling it, we should return to the others then." Krios mentions after Ashlynn and Mac both seem stumped at what to do next.
"Let's try the statue again. It must point to the way out somehow. Right? Maybe the box that opened...?"
"Alright". Khatín slides down the chain to the bottom room.
When the party reappears, Nym asks for a report of what they found, Nodding, he says, "I could take a crack at it, but it sounds like a tough nut. Maybe we could try to trigger it and see what happens, but that might be dangerous," he points at the skeleton, "as this poor fellow might attest."
"Regardless, I agree that leaving it for the moment might be for the best.
He heads over to the elevator they've discovered, "Shall we plumb the depths below?"
When the party reappears, Nym asks for a report of what they found, Nodding, he says, "I could take a crack at it, but it sounds like a tough nut. Maybe we could try to trigger it and see what happens, but that might be dangerous," he points at the skeleton, "as this poor fellow might attest."
Trigger it from a distance then? Does anyone have a cantrip that can apply pressure?
He grins, mutters, and a glowing hand appears.
What say you?
Smiling at the new magic, Ashlynn gets a bit too 'girl-ly' about it.
"Ooooohhh. Neat-o! Can you show me how you do that again? Obviously the arcane spell was simple, but was it...necromancy or evocation magic...?"
That sarcastic bastard Aram Zey said it was transmutation magic... which seems weird to me as I always thought of it as a conjuration. He tore strips off me when I tried to debate the point.
Ever the showman, and a sucker for feminine attention, he dismisses it and re-summons it, making it float through the air while doing several finger wriggling gestures.
Khatín coughs over a laugh as one of the wrigglings resembles a rather rude gesture. Her eyes shine in the dim light with mirth.
Eyes lost to the thoughts of magic discourse, Ashlynn misses the 'hand' gestures.
"OF COURSE. Transmutation magic! I should have realized..."
Reaching out, She tries to 'shake' the magical hand.
"Ohhhhhh. It tickles! How strange..."
Krios, happy to be reunited with his feline, watches as the others practice their magic. Giving them a moment, he would clear his throat and nod towards Nym.
"Down we should go." The elf said simply enough, making his way towards where it would rise again.
You're the man... or elf, as the case may be, he says pragmatically and follows.
Khatín follows the others.
Turning back to the rotating coffin, Ashlynn looks again more closely at it and giggles at Borden's gaff.
"I can almost assure you Krios took no offense by your statement under the circumstances. Right Krios? Neither would I, even though I'm neither truly full elf or human...but I am not a man either...so maybe I should just shut up now? Either way: Unregulated discourse on humanoid species can lead to many judgmental arguments about stereotypes that I'm not sure I have the emotional capacity to handle right now..."
She looks up again.
"Can I see that broken finger again? Or did we try and put it back on the statue?"
Mac smirks when Ashlynn mentioned about humanoid species and stereotypes. Halflings have a reputation for not living an 'honest' life and in his case, truly accurate!
Krios listens to the two of them discuss the circumstances. Whitepaw nuzzles against the man's leg, looking up almost questioningly at the hunter until a frustrated sigh left him.
"I do not care what he says. All that matters is what he does." Krios says, saying more in that sentence than he likely had since they travelled up towards the cairn. When asked for the broken finger, he produces it and offers it to Ashlynn.
Whispering faintly, Ashlynn accepts the broken digit and busies herself with the statue and the broken finger..casting detect magic and wondering about all possibilities and settings of the sarcophagus.
(+1 to detect traps!)
As the group returns to the lantern room, the green light of the lit lantern greets them, bathing them in it's eerie glow, the light glittering across the domed ceiling.
As Ashlynn re-examines the sarcophagus, the others contemplate the still risen elevator waiting in the alcove of the unlit yellow lantern.
You don't discover anything new; the sarcophagus is trapped ( when opened you're fairly certain), magically with an evocation spell.
However, as you follow the seal of the sarcophagus, you discover a small flaw in the stone, revealing the runes of the spell written in what appears to be a dull powder. A quick swipe of your finger mars the enchantment, rendering it inactive.
Smiling broadly, Ashlynn starts jumping up and down...
"HA! Let's open this sucker now! Its safe! The fire spell was written in POWDER! Can you believe it? I've got skills! isn't that amazing?"
Everyone stands still looking at the young half-elf strangely.
"What? Don't YOU want to know is in the 'formally' trapped tomb? I wonder if there is treasure! A magic wand? Or some scrolls! Ooooh...maybe there is a secret staircase inside? This could be the true way in!"
She immediately starts to struggle trying to get the heavy lid open on her own, her little hands obviously straining to open it.
Well... damn, says Borden and begins helping.
Krios gives a shrug and joins the young half-elf, grabbing whatever handhold he could to try and pry the heavy lid off.
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Ashlynn actually manages to move the lid a small bit , before Borden and Krios arrive to assist. The three of them manage to slide the lid to one side, until it tips over and lands on the floor with a solid thud.
Now open, the secrets of the sarcophagus is laid bare. It is completely empty.
The half-elf frowns.
"Oh 'POO'. That was anti-climactic and disappointing. I really thought..."
Khatín peers inside the sarcophagus. "Think it's another hidden space?"
Mac walks over. [b]Possibly! He begins to search for any hidden compartments.
Krios assists the little halfling, letting his eyes pour over the inside of the sarcophagus.
A flurry of activity ensues as Mac and Krios pore over every inch of the inside of the sarcophagus. But, they find naught a crack or seam to explore, the inside is one uniform smooth surface.
Pulling on a single small braid of her white-blonde hair, Ashlynn's face puckers up sourly as she glances at the others.
"I'm sorry. I thought I had managed to actually be of help for once. Let's check that lifting box-thing I guess?"
"Nothing." Krios said, gesturing to the rising elevator. "Let's go down. Whitepaw and I will go first. We'll take another." There would possibly need to be multiple trips with how many of them there were. It also meant that there would be no quick escape.
"I can go with you since you've got better eyes than I do."
Do it
Nym shrugs at the empty sarcophagus. "Disappointing, but not really that surprising. Probably just a decoy to distract would be grave robbers."
When there's room, he takes his turn in the elevator and descends into the depths.
Nym shrugs at the empty sarcophagus. "Disappointing, but not really that surprising. Probably just a decoy to distract would be grave robbers."
When there's room, he takes his turn in the elevator and descends into the depths.
Never considered that BUT it fits the pattern.
He takes a grip on his spear and follows the leader.
Near silently Ashlynn lights up the end of her crossbow again, and gets in the box with the last group to enter the lift.
Each member of the group steps into the cylinder and feels the floor drop slowly into the stone floor. The soft sound of whatever mechanism vibrates through the stone until it comes to rest in it's new location....
The walls here are covered in bas-relief images similar to the slender figure upon the sarcophagus lie in the chamber above. Nearly a dozen androgynous, hairless humanoids stand in poses of deference, almost as if they are paying homage to the viewer. Many extend their hands in adoration, their faces awash in adulation. Several of the statues lack hands, arms, heads or anything else easily hacked off by long absent tomb robbers.
About fifteen feet to the south, a dark passage extends from an elaborately carved arch. Only a little of this hallway is visible, however, as a large stone block obscures most of the passage.
The stone is roughly 10 ft wide by 2 ft deep by 8 ft tall and nearly seals off the passage to the south.
A large niche about the same size as the block opens in the ceiling 10ft above.
A fine layer of dust covers everything...
Ashlynn frowns and pouts prettily, her defeat in the tomb above coloring her mood now.
"Oh poo. More climbing."
"Anyway we can squeeze past this?" Khatín asks, rubbing the surface of the stone with her hand.
Well... you're built for it better than I am, Borden hedges.