"Have you tried to open it? There might be a secret passage or something in there. Or gold. I think we should start exploring some of the passages. There might be something important in there."
"You made me mess up, you big oaf!" He resumes drawing, then perks his head up. "Wait... this thing moves?! Why would it do that?" Leaving the answer for others to solve he goes back to drawing.
Rend glares at the gnome, but says nothing. When Shamus suggests investigating the hallways, he heads over to assist. "I like your idea. Let's light them all."
Still carrying the torch from burning away the cobwebs, Rend heads over to light the lanterns and illuminate the hallways for Shamus or someone else to search. He'll start with the orange lantern and proceed clockwise.
Sorry, you guys have the indigo lantern. Indigo is kind of a navy blue, halfway between blue and violet.
As for lighting the lanterns, you'll need to leave a torch or something else inside the lantern, as the lanterns have no wick or fuel of their own.
Also, I don't think anybody has checked out the lit green lantern yet.
Sorry, you guys have the indigo lantern. Indigo is kind of a navy blue, halfway between blue and violet.
As for lighting the lanterns, you'll need to leave a torch or something else inside the lantern, as the lanterns have no wick or fuel of their own.
Also, I don't think anybody has checked out the lit green lantern yet.
In that case, Rend will investigate the green lantern first. "I wonder how that one's been lit for so long," he mutters under his breath as he steps past Shamus and heads towards the light, torch in hand.
Rend, you have to stand on your toes to unlatch the lantern. Inside, you find what appears to be a torch, burning with a bright green flame. The flame produces no heat, and does not seem to be consuming the torch.
Without considering the consequences, Rend reaches in and grabs the green torch. He removes it from the lantern and heads over to Kharid, .
"Hey, try taking the torch out. Maybe the magic of the lanterns make the torches permanently glow, like this one. And get this, the fire doesn't even burn." To demonstrate, he passes his hand through the green flame, then waits for some sort of explanation from his companions...
"I've heard of things like this before. One of the guild members had a magical torch that never went out and didn't put out heat. It was damn useful." I say and then "Why don't you put the torch back Rend. We'll use my torch to explore the hallway."
The short hallway leading to the green lantern has a ten foot high ceiling, but the ceiling above the lantern alcove seems to be just at the edge of the torchlight, putting it at about forty feet.
Shrugging, Rend puts the magical torch back in the lantern.
Rend, the chain the lantern is hanging from seems to disappear into a small hole in the alcove ceiling.
"Hmmm...the chain seems to disappear into a hole in the ceiling. I wonder if it's strong enough to climb?"
Rend pulls on the lantern. Gently at first, then gradually allowing it to take his full weight. If it seems sturdy enough, he'll attempt to climb it.
Rend pulls on the lantern. Gently at first, then gradually allowing it to take his full weight. If it seems sturdy enough, he'll attempt to climb it.
The chain is indeed sturdy enough to climb. You make it all the way to the top, forty feet above. The hole in the ceiling is small, just wide enough for the chain to pass through. What may lie beyond the hole, you are unable to see.
Just below the lantern is a circular stone in the floor, approximately five feet in diameter. It does not seem to be a pressure plate or other trap trigger, but you strongly suspect it is part of some unseen mechanism, though what purpose it serves or how the mechanism operates, you are unable to determine.
Harlon watches Rend climb the chain and shakes his head in disbelief.
Just below the lantern is a circular stone in the floor, approximately five feet in diameter. It does not seem to be a pressure plate or other trap trigger, but you strongly suspect it is part of some unseen mechanism, though what purpose it serves or how the mechanism operates, you are unable to determine.
"Shamus... could it be a trap door?"
I look up at Rend "If you fall on me..." and then examine the floor. "It could be a trap door, but there isn't a pressure plate or anything." I get off o the thing and begin to look around for a rock or something like that and ask "Does anyone have a mace or something?"
Once I find something I bring the stone down on the trap door as hard as I can, listening for a reverberation to see if I can estimate how deeap the passage, if any, is.
"There's nothing to see up here," Rend calls down to the others. "The chain disappears into the ceiling, but the hole is too small to climb through."
As he's about to climb down, a loud bang reverberates through the chamber as Shamus tests the floor with a mace . The sudden noise nearly causes Rend to lose his grip and plummet 40' to his death. "Shamus, you stupid git! You think that could wait a minute until I get down!?"
With that, Rend begins his descent, moving as fast as possible without taking any undue risk.
"Sorry. I didn't think it would be a problem." I say sarcastically to Rend.
It takes a bit of confirmation, whacking the stone on another part of the floor, and then again on the circle, but it appears that indeed it is hollow under the stone, though the stone seems to be thick, and likely impossible to merely lift out of the ground.
"Hmmmm... perhaps the lanterns hold the key to opening this secret door? What if we lit the orange lantern, or placed it on the circular stone in the floor - perhaps that's why the arrow on the sarcophagus is pointing in that direction?..."
When Rend safely completes his descent, he calls back to Harlon. "Good idea. We should light all these lanterns, especially the orange one. Who's got extra torches?"
"I agree. I have 5 sunrods that'll emit light like daylight for a few hours." I say and pull the sunrods out of my backpack. "I'd like to keep one or two of them for light later on."
"Here, toss me a couple," Rend says, extending his hand. Assuming Shamus is willing to share the wealth, Rend grabs the sunrods and makes his way over to the orange lantern. He ignites one and carefully places it inside. If that doesn't seem to trigger anything, he'll do the same with the yellow lantern.
"Kharid, pass me that purple one and I'll go hang it where it belongs."
When Rend safely completes his descent, he calls back to Harlon. "Good idea. We should light all these lanterns, especially the orange one. Who's got extra torches?"
Your descent, aside from Shamus' loud banging, is uneventful.
Sorry I've let the game stall out a little bit guys. The Halloween install is over, and I should be around and functioning mentally a lot more often. I'll add a post soon, with the results of Rend's efforts.
Knowledge: Arcana roll
Decypher Script roll
Kharid has been staring at the rune on the sarcophagus as well, occasionally mouthing out various sounds, as if he was trying to pronounce some unknown word.
"Nay. Can't puzzle it out just yet. May still need more examples of the symbols, before I can really figure out what they mean."
"Whu? Oh, of course, Rend. Here," he says, passing rend the indigo lantern.
He looks down the first alcove to the left of the entry.
"The red one's still missing, though. Might not be able to fully active whatever purpose these lanterns serve. Still, it's worth seeing what, if anything, happens."
"Wait, the sarcophagus moved, you say? Huh..." Kharid trails off in thought.
"Here, toss me a couple," Rend says, extending his hand. Assuming Shamus is willing to share the wealth, Rend grabs the sunrods and makes his way over to the orange lantern. He ignites one and carefully places it inside. If that doesn't seem to trigger anything, he'll do the same with the yellow lantern.
"Kharid, pass me that purple one and I'll go hang it where it belongs."
Opening the orange lantern, you depsoit a sunrod inside and close it back up. Same with the yellow.
The light of the brightly colored lanterns bounce off the glittering ceiling of the main chamber, clashing with the green and each other in a riot of shimmering hues. It's a little distracting.
"Shamus, are you gonna light the other ones? I'll go hang the funny blue one (indigo)..."
Shamus, the first thing you notice as you walk down the darkened hallway with the blue lantern is the dead body, rotted away to bone, lying on the floor at the end of the tunnel.
The second thing you notice , as you reach up to try and insert a sunrod into the blue lantern, is that, unlike the alcove with the orange lantern, you cannot see the ceiling at the edge of your torchlight. Whereas the other alcove had a forty foot high ceiling, just visible at the edge of the torchlight, this alcove's walls clearly continue beyond that distance, to an unknown height.
The violet lantern's ceiling is at the same forty foot height as the orange lantern alcove, but you are unable to tell for certain if the chain disappears into the ceiling or not. The flickering shadows from your torchlight are creating too much visual interference.
"Shamus, are you gonna light the other ones? I'll go hang the funny blue one (indigo)..."
Rend, as you insert the sunrod into the orange lantern, you happen to look up and notice that this lantern's chain does not disappear into the ceiling . It is clearly anchored to an eyebolt mounted in the stone above.
After that, you're very curious how the yellow lantern's chain is mounted, and sure enough , when you check, it disappears into a small hole in the ceiling, like the green lantern's chain.
As you walk toward the alcove where the indigio lantern is supposed to be hung, you notice that even with just five lanterns lit (orange, yellow, green, blue and violet), the clashing light glimmering off the dome of the central chamber is very distracting now. It's easy enough to squint against the riotous colors to focus on simple tasks, but you instinctively understand that if a fight were to break out in this chamber, you would be at a distinct disadvantage because of the glimmering, depending on what you were fighting against.
Harlon shields his eyes as the riot of light brightens the chamber. Hector flaps around the main chamber, cawing madly.
Harlon, as you squint against the piercing light of the lanterns, you spot a glint of metal on the corpse lying at the end of the blue alcove.
Harlon, as you squint against the piercing light of the lanterns, you spot a glint of metal on the corpse lying at the end of the blue alcove.
Still shielding his eyes with his hand, Harlon wills Hector to land on the body and, if possible, to grasp the glinting object with his beak. "Hector, bring back the shiny object," commands the the halfling in a raspy whisper.
"Let's hope nothing jumps out of that coffin," Rend remarks as he heads over to hang the indigo lantern. "It will be impossible to fight with this light all over the place. Once we see what happens when they're all lit, we should probably take out some of the sunrods just in case."
Rend hangs the indigo lantern and tries to get a good look at the ceiling above, to see how it's attached. He then returns to the group and makes a full report.
Still shielding his eyes with his hand, Harlon wills Hector to land on the body and, if possible, to grasp the glinting object with his beak. "Hector, bring back the shiny object," commands the the halfling in a raspy whisper.
The raven returns to you with a cloak clasp in its mouth, in the shape of an eight-pointed star.
Yes, indeed. You have all that correct.
"Let's hope nothing jumps out of that coffin," Rend remarks as he heads over to hang the indigo lantern. "It will be impossible to fight with this light all over the place. Once we see what happens when they're all lit, we should probably take out some of the sunrods just in case."
Rend hangs the indigo lantern and tries to get a good look at the ceiling above, to see how it's attached. He then returns to the group and makes a full report.
The chain for the indigo lantern does seem to disappear into a small hole in the ceiling, forty feet above.
Dalzig finishes his drawing, and looks up to see the others had been busy. He looks up at the ceiling mesmerized by the fascinating light. At the mention of something popping out of the coffin, he chokes a second and then falls in his haste to get off. He gets back up and slowly rubs his head. "Don't scare me like that!"
Dalzig carefully stows away his drawing materials and watches the others move around. The statement about the coffin makes Dalzig question things. I wonder if this guy really is this big... Maybe I should take a peek... to report back, of course. With a quick glance around him, he attempts to move the coffin lid enough for him to see in.
Dalzig finishes his drawing, and looks up to see the others had been busy. He looks up at the ceiling mesmerized by the fascinating light. At the mention of something popping out of the coffin, he chokes a second and then falls in his haste to get off. He gets back up and slowly rubs his head. "Don't scare me like that!"
Dalzig carefully stows away his drawing materials and watches the others move around. The statement about the coffin makes Dalzig question things. I wonder if this guy really is this big... Maybe I should take a peek... to report back, of course. With a quick glance around him, he attempts to move the coffin lid enough for him to see in.
Standing at your full height next to the sarcophagus, the top is still a little above you (it was work scrabbling to get on top of the thing, but you did it). You're not sure you'll be able to give it the right leverage, but when you push on the lid, summoning a strength surprising even to you, it slides a good six inches over, exposing the inner chamber. As soon as this happens, a burst of arcane fire explodes out of the sarcophagus, catching you and Kharid in its effect.
Harlon is lost in thought, inspecting the silvery eight-pointed star that Hector has recovered for him, as Dalzig starts to push the lid on the sarcophagus. The hairs start to stand on the back of Harlon's neck. Something's wrong... The halfling tears his attention away from the star and notices what the gnome is up to. "No, Dalzig, don...!!!", he starts to scream, hitting the ground and rolling away as the flames burst from the tomb to scorch Kharid and the gnome, and nearly lick the halfling as well. Hector flies hysterically around the chamber, cawing raucously.
"Ahhhh! He's a fire elemental!" Dalzig screams as the flame rushes over his face. A slight smell of burning hair fills the area around the coffin. Dalzig runs around in circles, patting his head to put the fire out. When he takes a moment to breathe, he realizes that the red he is seeing is actually just his hair. He turns about, looking for the elemental, and looks puzzled at its absence. Carefully, he walks back up to sarcophagus and starts climbing the side to look into it.
Aside from the flame trap, the sarcophagus is utterly empty.
Everyone else hears the fire trap go off.
Rend, once you've hung the lit Indigo torch in its place, aside from the sparkling light being annoying, nothing else happens.
Rend just finishes hanging the indigo lantern when he hears an explosion coming from the center of the chamber. Turning quickly, he sees his smaller companions getting back to their feet and putting out the remnants of flame from the fire trap. He runs back to the sarcophagus and surveys the situation.
Seeing that the danger has passed, he peers curiously into the empty coffin. "Well, I guess we need to find that red lantern then. Let's get to it. These lights are making me dizzy..."
"Shamus, did you find anything in the other hallways? All my lanterns are lit."
If Shamus tells him about the opening above the blue lantern, Rend proposes that he climb the chain to investigate. Actually, he doesn't really wait for the proposal to be accepted. The lights are bugging the hell out of him, and he takes any excuse to get out of the chamber.