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”Ive got a healing wand. It’s almost brand new. I suggest one of your own should be your first purchase after completing a mission. But we can use my wand for the immediate future. Is anyone trained at detecting traps? If so, you should definitely go in front and try to keep things clear for the rest of us,” Ouita agrees. She gently traces the outlines of the engravings with her empty hand, appreciating the beauty of the work.
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Angus takes an offered flask of fire and comments, ”Por guy shoulda bought a healing potion instead of these things. But I guess it’s our gain. Speaking of which, do you all have potions or maybe even healing wands in case there is trouble we can’t handle simply with ropes and muscles?”
"I've got a healing wand, but I cannot use it. I heard that clerics have no trouble with such wands, so maybe it's best for all of us if you carry it while on this mission?" Newt draws his wand of CLW and hands it to Angus.
He looks down into the next hall once it is open, ”Shouldn’t we uh… be checking for traps and such?”
"I did not receive a special training for finding traps, but my eyes are not bad and I'm heavily armored. I can go first and look. But if there is another person with more experience of how to spot traps, they are welcome to walk next to me."
Newt looks for traps on the way to the other end of the hallway and on the next stone double doors.
Yes, after all the brutal training the Master of Swords drilled into you, your Pathfinder instincts are tingling. You are deep underground in a ancient tomb that clearly doesn't want visitors, so it's about time those reflexes kicked in.
Newt found countless concealed holes line the walls and floor of this hallway, and a pressure plate in front of the door on the other side. It's obvious that triggering the pressure plate would unleash whatever unpleasant surprise the builders had in mind, so the practical way to disable the trap is to disable the pressure plate.
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The purpose of the shaft rooms becomes evident--they’re deathtraps without a mechanism. Creatures that descend the shaft without a reliable means to climb back out are effectively trapped, permanently.
"What did I tell you?" Jezebel smirks.
"Speaking of which, of course," She adds with a glance over at the pressure-plate. "I don't suppose anyone's got a pole? I've heard those are very useful, but I regret I didn't have time to pick anything up when I was in a rush to find you."
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Angus raises an eyebrow, ”There’s a heavy enough dead body in the room here if we just want to use it to trigger the trap.”
He adds with a small frown, ”I am surprised the society sent a group without a trap disabler, but I guess I will just have to be satisfied with a trap finder.”
The cleric takes any of the offered wands.
Yoshi looks around for a rock heavy enough to drop it onto the pressure plate from a safe distance.
There isn't any loose rock around the room you're in. Best thing you can find is the skeleton.
The trap is effective enough to give you pause. You can climb back up the rope and return to the market to resupply, perhaps pick up something like a ten-foot pole to probe ahead more safely.
However, this would mark the second time you've returned for gear. People will start to notice. Whispers among the market-goers suggest that the esteemed Pathfinders may not be as prepared as their reputation implies...
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As none of the strapping strong pathfinders seem willing to disturb the dead (or more likely were afk), Angus drags the body over to the hall entrance. He ties off a rope to it and gives his best heave down the hallway towards the pressure plate.
Obviously missing, he pulls the body back and tries again.
”There we go! Reminds me of fishing.”
The first throw misses. The skeleton bounces off the wall with a loud clatter, landing in a heap just short of the pressure plate, still mostly intact.
The second throw is better. The corpse lands right on the plate with a dry click.
For a moment, nothing happens.
Then, without warning, dozens of small darts shoot out from hidden holes all along the hallway. They tear through the skeleton, snapping bones and scattering pieces in every direction.
It's a dart trap!
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Jezebel shakes her head. "Well this is just awkward all around, isn't it? Sending an entire team to Osirion without a single traps-expert, it's a wonder the Shadow Lodge isn't still in operation...!"
She waits to see if the darts ever run out.
However, this would mark the second time you've returned for gear. People will start to notice. Whispers among the market-goers suggest that the esteemed Pathfinders may not be as prepared as their reputation implies...
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Angus shrugs, ”I’m just the local hired help, sorry. Though if this goes well I’d certainly consider the society as a possible longer term employee. Now can someone please go make sure the trap didn’t reset and check to see if the door is openable? I’d go but I don’t think you want your healer to take thirty darts to the side of his pretty head.”
After a few seconds of shooting, the dart stops coming out.
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Jezebel gives the direction they'd come. "As I said, I was too busy trying to catch up with you to visit the bazaar, so if we need any more supplies, I don't think they'd mind seeing me. Then again," She adds with a gratuitous heft of her chest, "people usually don't."
"Perhaps it's time to get a stout pole or two, and I've heard a sack of marbles is good for more than just playing with; anything else?"
"Huh. That would have been kind of bad, standing over there..."
Through the newly acquired 10ft pole, you guys do discover that, unfortunately, the trap DOES reset right away. More darts shoot out from the holes and seems to be able to cover the entire hallway, with no room to hide from them.
Luckily, Angus doesn’t detect any magic in the hallway.
After a minute of tapping the pressure plate and burning through a dozen 10-foot poles, the darts finally stop firing from the trap. Pressing the plate now just gives off a faint clicking sound.
The scene of that poor skeleton—and the many four 10-foot poles you’ve connected together to reach the far end of the 35-foot hallway—getting absolutely obliterated by the sustained fire of countless darts makes you surprisingly patient while waiting for the trap to run out...
You walk through the dart-littered hallway and make it to the stone door on the other side.
*Empty clicking sounds*
Yes, there are no more darts.
You give the door a quick examination. It’s not trapped. It’s not locked.
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Angus concurs, ”Incredible craftsmanship too. For not having magic to sustain it, the fact that everything worked after such a long time is very impressive. Traps built nowadays barely last ten years and you are lucky to even get a warranty for that. Anyway, pop the next door and let’s see what else is down here.”
He pulls his bow out again.
Beyond the stone door is a square room. A faded tapestry hangs on a wooden frame on the western wall of this chamber. Faded and delicate, the tapestry depicts a middle-aged man, accompanied by a woman and two children, with a small estate in the background. To either side of the tapestry are two small pedestals, upon which sit two dead and preserved animals. Two set of stone double door lines the opposite site of the room.
The team does not find any traps in this room.
[dice=Perception]1d20 + 7
Yoshi takes a step inside.
Yoshi can't find any secret door or compartment in here. It's merely a simple foyer.
And Ryan can translates the Ancient Osirion for the teams.
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Angus seems disappointed that nothing attacked.
”Perhaps there are only a few traps and not that many dangers? That would make logical sense in a sealed tomb, compared to the alternative.”
He puts his bow away and pulls out paper. A very crude sketch is made of the painting and he starts working on a crude map of the rooms they have seen so far. After that he copies down the translated Ancient Osirian.
He puts his stuff away and pulls out his bow, motioning to the south door, ”Left is right, right is wrong? I think I heard that about caves.”
There's a short flight of stairs going down behind the stone double door, and another stone double door sit at the end of the stairs. This seems to be the pattern for both north and south.
Which way is the team going? Or are we splitting up?
Going down the short stairs and opening the door, you see a massive mirror stretches across the southern wall of this chamber, flanked by two statues. The statue to the east depicts a tall, gaunt woman in a flowing, hooded gown, holding an hourglass. The figure to the west is that of a jackal-headed man carrying a scepter or staff in his hand. Stone double doors, standing slightly ajar, lead to the east and west. A third set of double doors exits the room to the north. Torch holders sculpted in the shape of bird skulls are built in each corner, and a thin layer of dust covers every surface.
The statues are of Pharasma and Anubis similar to what you've seem before.
You turns up evidence of tracks in the dust between the east and west doors.
If you made DC20
You identifies the tracks as those of animals with the Vermin type.
Besides the team members, you also see a human man with bronzed skin in his forties, wearing white ceremonial robes and a headdress appears in the mirror, and you recognize that as the likeness of Akhentepi. All of your reflections look stern and disapproving, regardless of your actual facial expression.
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Angus puts his bow away and moves in. He is intrigued by the mirror and spends a fair bit of time checking himself out. He waves to the figure that appears there. After, of course, frantically making sure the guy is not standing behind him in the room.
"Hello, my man! We are here to catalogue this tomb. No harm intended and we are definitely NOT grave robbers. And if you know anything about grave robbers, they aren't legally allowed to lie about that."
He tries really hard to make his expression change to a positive one.
Angus puts his bow away and moves in. He is intrigued by the mirror and spends a fair bit of time checking himself out. He waves to the figure that appears there. After, of course, frantically making sure the guy is not standing behind him in the room.
"Hello, my man! We are here to catalogue this tomb. No harm intended and we are definitely NOT grave robbers. And if you know anything about grave robbers, they aren't legally allowed to lie about that."
He tries really hard to make his expression change to a positive one.
Akhentepi, as the reflection that can only be found in the mirror, just stares at you guys in silence, with disapproval, and does not react to your attempts of interactions.
On the side note, the mirror detect as magical.
Yoshi detects no traps, and opens the door.
A flight of steps gradually descends to the west down this passage. Halfway down the stairs, small holes and burrowed tunnels riddle what remains of the passage’s southern wall. Earth and sand have spilled over the collapsed masonry, covering the stairs with dirt and rubble. Stone doors engraved with a golden scarab, its wings open beneath a golden sun, stand at either end of the stairs.