Ch. 1: Finding the entrance to the Tomb

[Distorted Humor]

Elsa says "Do you want a rope so we can pull you out if it trapped?"

[Bhart]

OOC: is Zoster's Detect Pits and Snares spell still in effect? He still had 18 minutes when checking the previous tunnel...

No unfortunately the spell has expired.

[Bhart]

Xale studies the stone hallway and doors to see if he can determine anything about them. After a few moments; he picks up some loose stones and tosses them down the hallway to see if any traps are triggered.

The rocks bounce and clatter across the flagstones, but nothing happens.

[Bhart]

Fosco notices one thing. The door on the right has no hinges!

The right door perhaps opens inward instead of out. Hard to tell at this distance.

[Bhart]

Mason begins his slow careful walk down the hall checking for signs of traps. About 20' from the entrance the monk notices some scrape marks in the stone floor running east/west.

[Nuke66]

Mason pauses without crossing the line. He kneels down and begins to cleans away the dust to reveal any cracks in the floor.

"Hold back, there may be something here."

[Bhart]

Mason pauses without crossing the line. He kneels down and begins to cleans away the dust to reveal any cracks in the floor.

"Hold back, there may be something here."

The marks are shallow irregular grooves worn into the flagstones. The kind of marks made when something very heavy is slid over a surface repeatedly.

[NJWilliam]

Worren kicks at what remains of the wooden box as well as the leather sacks to see what, if anything, remains inside.

[gray mouser]

Watching his companion carefully traverse the hallway Malibran pays close attention to the path he takes, noting where the monk had stepped. Turning to the rest of the party he says, "I care not for the look of those doors. It would be sagacious to carefully check to see if they are trapped at as far a distance as possible. I will enter the passageway and pray to Pholtus that he allows me to Find Traps."

With that the Cleric will take out his copper coin with Continual Light cast upon it for added illumination and walk carefully down the hall. He will wait until he gets within range (3" I believe) and then cast one of his Find Trap spells towards the doors.

OOC: I should be about 10' away from Mason and the marks on the floor

[Nuke66]

"Good idea Malibran, this looks very suspicious."

Noting the direction, "I would expect any such marks as this to go in the other direction, towards the doors, not across this chamber." He continues to evaluate the scraps, are they left-to-right, or right-to-left. In either case, he will approach the wall that he thinks the marks came from.

[Bhart]

Mason see no obvious direction to the marks. He approaches the nearest wall but sees nothing unusual. It looks like solid stone.

Malibran steps forward so he is within 30' of the doors and begins his prayers calling on the power of his god to grant him special sight. When the spell is cast the cleric can plainly see that the floor in front of the doors is covered in hidden glyphs and arcane symbols.

Worren kicks one of the worn out saddle bags and it tears open revealing the edge of a badly damaged book.

[gray mouser]

Malibran shakes his head at the glyphs his spell reveals. "It is nuncupative that a mage would set traps to safe guard his domicile or tomb but this is truly petulant. It would be wise to attempt to dispel what I can only take to be a magical ambuscade."

With that he will make his way back to the entrance of the passageway and inform the other members of the party about what he saw, trying to ascertain the nature of the glyphs and runes with the other spell casters. If there is no agreement on what they are, or if they can be identified as a case of a Glyph of Warding or Symbol spell Malibran will attempt to cast Dispel Magic on them from the farthest limit of the spell's range (6").

[NJWilliam]

Worren picks up the damaged book and continues searching through the remains of the other containers.
If he finds nothing else of interest in the remaining containers, he will return to his companions and examine the book more closely with them, without yet opening it.

[zebediah]

Zoster suggests that we try to activate the trap from a safe distance, perhaps by throwing stones at the warded area.

[Bhart]

Worren picks up the damaged book and continues searching through the remains of the other containers.
If he finds nothing else of interest in the remaining containers, he will return to his companions and examine the book more closely with them, without yet opening it.

The book is small and leather bound. The binding is broken and there are signs of severe water damage on the page edges. The only thing holding all the pages together is a brittle leather strap and the rotting remains of the cover.

[Bhart]

Malibran shakes his head at the glyphs his spell reveals. "It is nuncupative that a mage would set traps to safe guard his domicile or tomb but this is truly petulant. It would be wise to attempt to dispel what I can only take to be a magical ambuscade."

With that he will make his way back to the entrance of the passageway and inform the other members of the party about what he saw, trying to ascertain the nature of the glyphs and runes with the other spell casters. If there is no agreement on what they are, or if they can be identified as a case of a Glyph of Warding or Symbol spell Malibran will attempt to cast Dispel Magic on them from the farthest limit of the spell's range (6").

You are unable to identify to exact nature of the glyphs. It has some similarities to a glyph of warding, but this is something different. It is unlike anything you have seen before and is above your level of skill.

[max_vale]

Xale moves up to the edge of the tunnel and examines the floors, walls and cieling slowly and carefully; attempting to discern with his Dwarvish knowledge anything unusual about the construction....

[Bhart]

Xale moves up to the edge of the tunnel and examines the floors, walls and cieling slowly and carefully; attempting to discern with his Dwarvish knowledge anything unusual about the construction....

Xale sees nothing unusual from the edge of the tunnel. Perhaps entering further into the hall would give the dwarf a better view point.

[gray mouser]

Zoster suggests that we try to activate the trap from a safe distance, perhaps by throwing stones at the warded area.

"Indeed, such an action could spring the trap," Malibran says, "but the glyphs are quite beyond me. I cannot make heads or tails of them. It is possible that setting off the trap will result in yet another caved-in passageway. I think dispelling the magic of the glyphs would be safer. If, that is, we are successful. Who knows how powerful Acererak was when he cast that spell. Or how powerful he still is.

"Still, if others think we should try to physically set off the trap so be it."

[NJWilliam]

Returning to the others, Worren says,"It's a long shot, but perhaps there's something about those glyphs in here." With that, he raises the book up a bit for others to see.