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***Marcus, Into the Mounds***

Amazed by the brilliant light coming from Uto's staff, Marcus follows the party down the steps. He feels like a deer that stars off into a hunter's bright light soure before an arrow takes it down. "Well friends, here we go!"

With a wide grin of his wooden dentistry, Dren trundles over to Marcus "Look-see what Dren has found! 25 gold sheafs and Morti has their match in calloused hand .... A fine start for no real effort. May every barrow be so generous and so un-eventful".

Offering the glinting stack of coins around in his tiny hand, Dren finds himself whispering in gloom ....

"Who carries the treasure?" Dren asks looking around "The clink of coin is a beautiful sigh, but no friend to the stealth stride".

"These look costly," Mortiganto says, gesturing toward the amphorae. "But there's no point lugging them around unless we're turning back now. I say we leave them here until we return. Perhaps even make this a holding area for other valuables we might find."

"So, are we ready to try another mound?"

Pyrrhic, from the doorway:
"Are there any secret doors? Are there secret staircases below the slabs? If someone wants to watch the outside, I can check it out."

Mortiganto trots up the stairs to where Hedric stands guard.

"Ho, Hedric," he says. "You're smart... and strange. Go down there and tell us how much those vases are worth. I'll take over watching out here."

"..."

"Uh... please."

Hedric the Strange

Hedric's gaze falls briefly on Mortiganto and then focuses on a point just above and behind Mortiganto's head "My knowledge doesn't actually extend into appraising pottery shards but I can certainly take a look." He pauses a moment as if some other thought has come to him and then moves to inspect the amphorae.

Hedric:

Scowling as nobody offers to carry the gold, Dren pulls a rag out of his pocket and tightly wraps the coins before slipping them back in his pocket.

"Dren will carry the coins until we return to town" he states for the avoidance of doubt, before beginning to check for secret doors/hidden tunnels beneath the right slab.

Uto

"I've got a couple of sacks. I think we'd be better off if we leave our extra gear and any loot here until we need it or are ready to head back to town".

Haldo takes a deep breath and steps into the barrow, going underground for the very first time. He smiles at realising that he can see quite well in the gloom and moves over to peer curiously at one of the skeletons. "That explains why they didn't answer the door." he says, half to himself, before smiling awkwardly at the halfling as he stuffs the coins into his pocket.

***Marcus, Mound One***

With bow at the ready, Marcus makes his way back up the stairs and stands guard near the broken door. "Take what we can from this pace and let's move on. Those ceramic urns, get them out of there and bury them outside here. Least that way when we come back they should be where we let them. Leaving them exposed the way they are, pointing at the large entrance made using the hammers, any humanoid coming along will snatch those up if left down there."

"That's a good point, Marcus." Pyrrhic points to the broken door. "It's not like we can seal this place back up after all. Even if we did, there's no guarantee that some other oafs won't just knock it down again."

"I'm not sure they'll survive being buried, and they almost certainly won't like being dug back up," Mortiganto replies to Marcus. "Besides, do we really want to stand around here in the open digging a hole? I really think we should keep moving and head to the next entrance. I say straight south until we find another portal."

Hedric the Strange

Hedric will return to the surface, briefly studying the ruins of the cap stone.

Looking for evidence of mortar and details on the framing that might possibly lend itself to other means of opening the next mound (i.e. if mortared, is it old and could a few well place hammer blows around the frame loosen the cap stone, etc.).

Haldo steps back into the afternoon sunlight, enjoying the sudden rush of warmth. "This place is nothing like I imagined," he says, "Barrows I see, but I somehow imagined that they'd all be connected below ground in some way and things of great evil would stalk their endless night. If breaking open doors and taking coins is all that is needed then we'll be rich and back in front of a warm fire by suppertime! Perhaps this adventuring isn't so bad after all."

***Marcu First Mound***

Spitting into the muck that surrounds his feet, Marcus responds to Haldo's comment. "I am sure things will get a lot worse. This mound was a trail run."

"Doesn't it seem at least a little strange." Pyrrhic pauses. "This place is supposed to be a well-known adventuring site. Many have lost life or limb here seeking their fortune, but yet the first mound we come across was undisturbed and contained a little bit of drinking money?"

"Perhaps I'm thinking too much into this. Or perhaps we came into the mounds at the wrong end. Or maybe the stories are all false and told to keep would-be adventurers away. Maybe we're just strong, or dumb, enough to be some of the first to not heed the warnings."

"What's more likely, is that some unseen diabolical force comes and cleans up after those that meet their end at this unholy place, and the gold we're looting was probably theirs a few moons ago."

Tomcat42 wrote:Looking for evidence of mortar and details on the framing that might possibly lend itself to other means of opening the next mound (i.e. if mortared, is it old and could a few well place hammer blows around the frame loosen the cap stone, etc.).

As you can see in the picture, the entrances to the barrows are rather simple. Three large sections of stone, two upright and one across the top. The door is wedged in-between these blocks. Having seen the inside of one, you know they are framed in with wood and supported by more stone. Tunneling in is difficult and time consuming. Breaking the door in, though loud, is the fastest means of access.


From where you are, there are two more mounds. Both approximately 150 feet from you.

"Well, I think we can call this grave 'robbed'," Mortiganto says with finality. "Somebody quick and quiet should run a lap around those nearby mounds to see what's there. Marcus? Haldo? Dren? Or am I going to have to go stomping off down there?"

"Quiet is Dren, but quick he is not" says Dren wiggling a short leg at Morti as he emerges into the light.

"A bad idea it is to split up here. Let us all take a trip to that barrow .... " says Dren pointing east "...and then to the other".

"Dren will scout ahead ... " and quickly the Halfling heads off into the misty haze