Though Finn had suspected something sinister and swift to come of the blue mist, he finds that even with all five of them perched up at the entrance to the cave, and even with the blue fumes rollicking along at their feet, nothing yet inhibits their progress onward.  Still, Finn cannot shake the dark foreboding that something is quickly coming, that this mist is not here for decorative purposes...

Finn walks forward slowly, beckoning the others to stay for the moment as he walks slowly towards the censer at the center of the cave.

The small object is near the center of the cave, set up on a small pedestal and glowing with some horrid, inner blue light.  The thing pours the blue smoke from its insides, sending shadows and light dancing across the walls in swirling patterns.  Finn knows before he reaches it that the thing has some magic about it...

Finn does not give all of his attention to the censer however.  He glances around the rest of the cave, noting that on the near left wall, there is a gouge in the natural formation of the stone, revealing an opening that leads to a downward flight of stairs...  Rubble is scattered across the floor where the stairway begins.  At the back of the cave, he sees a backpack, nearly buried in the smoke that surrounds it...

OOC:  It is 1625 on the 1st of June.


The censer at the center of the cave
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:41, Mon 17 Oct 2022.

Finn stands over the small bowl looking thing and for the moment he is absolutely flummoxed.  He rubs his chin in deep thought.  This mist must have some purpose but what is it?  To enhance the denizens of this foul place?  Or poison intruders?  Or something else, like keep crocodiles away?  Try as he might Razzel cannot think of a way to test the qualities of this abomination, and he cannot decide whether to let it be or toss it out into the courtyard.  His intention upon seeing it yesterday while in bird form had been to give it a good heave once he got this far.  But his plans also included somehow getting here without touching the mist.  That point now seems moot since they have all been infected.

While he ponders what to do Finn waves the men forward.  Once Labid is close enough he leans in and says softly.  ”See 'bout that an' that.”, he adds by nodding his chin twice.

The leaders face twists as if a crab just bit his toe.  He tosses a quick finger towards the door and he lobs a question at his men lazily.  ”Whadd'ya think'a 'bout that.”



OOC:
Ask Labid to check the backpack and the door for traps.  I am also asking the men what they think about the rubble in front of the door.  I the player don't really care about their answers.  I dont expect the GM to give away any game changing ideas.  This is more for flavor cause its what Finn would do.  What I would like is for Labid to check the pack first and if he gives it the all clear I will search it while he checks the door.

Finn jerks his chin towards the doorway first, then the backpack, the only two objects that seems to stand out in the rather small cave.

Labid goes to the cave opening first, checking the walls, and the rubble about the floor for any sort of traps, though the effort appears to produce nothing.  The youth moves on with little more than a single thumb up as he moves on to the backpack.

Finn too, is drawn to the stairs, the only natural way on from this chamber.  Though Finn wouldn't describe himself as overly cautious, this room, the blue smoke, the doorway.  Everything scrapes at the deepest fibers of his being, screaming at him that something is off...  He checks the stone around the opening and sees gouges in the edges around the stone...  as if it has been freshly shaped and opened by picks and other stone-cutting tools.

"Look er all this!"  Labid says, his webbed fingers tearing open at the seams of the pack.  "Food, water, knives, a hatchet!  And there's a...""

But whatever else the pack contains, Finn does not hear, for Omar's own voice cuts the boy off mid-sentence.

"What in the!... Move Labid!"

Finn turns and watches as Labid turns his head in surprise and shock, looking up at Omar.  The youth does not realize, though Finn seems to slowly see as he watches, a blackened form which towers over Labid who still stoops at the backpack below...  It's the boy's shadow...  poised over him with a club, and swooping downwards with a brutal strike!  Though by some miracle, the small motion of Labid's head as he turns towards Omar makes the blow miss, missing Labid's skull by the narrowest of margins!

OOC:  It is 1627 on the 1st of June.  Consider yourself in combat.  Grid squares are 5 feet, so very close to 1 hex, though not quite the same.

A note that I've forgotten which tokens I used for various NPC's before.  I'm pretty sure I got Omar right (with the chain mail) though I have no clue about Labid nor Bashar.  For reference, Labid is the one at the NE corner of the cave (with the shadow behind him) and Bashar is the one next to you, looking at the doorway.

Roll vs. Perception, and if you succeed PM your results before posting please.



This message was last edited by the GM at 23:43, Mon 17 Oct 2022.

Finn stands atop the stairwell looking down into the dark earth.  The air is cold and musty but the rank sensations do not bother him.  If his mind had room to dwell upon it he would be surprised that it doesn’t smell of days old sweat and death.  In his minds eye he tries to conjure wishful images of the treasures that must lie below.  Magical rings, amulets and great glowing battle axes that burst into flames upon the command word in some long forgotten tongue.  And the books.  Whole packs full of tomes filled with ancient secrets of magical knowledge lost to time and a sunken city.  But the present is stronger and pulls his attention to this room that troubles him.  What is the purpose of the censer, the odd lights and the blue mist he still wonders.

And then out of nowhere he seems to get an answer.  There is a shout that yanks on Finns attention and whips his neck about as if a giant had tossed him like a doll.  Razzells eyes go wide as dinner plates and he curses to himself under his breath. ”Lookout!  There's more.  In the stairs. Move!”


OOC:
Move to the censer and kick over the pedestal, as I move to emphasize my words point at the shadows yet unseen.  It is my hope that if the light changes the shadow creatures will loose some power.  Then move to the backpack and grab it.  Then head into the stairwell.

If any of the men get caught in combat or need help they become the priority and ignore the above.

Finn charges across the room, barking orders for everyone to flee to the stairs.  With a swift strike of his knee, he knocks over the pedestal which holds the censer, sending the small dish flying to the ground, where it sinks into the blue mist with a sharp crack!.

Instantly, Finn sees his shadow climb up to the ceiling in front of him... along with the other...

Wait...

His mind turning into overdrive even midstep as he runs, Finn looks right to Omar... to Labid... Left to Munt.  Finn is the only one who even has a shadow to speak of...

Until he looks a little closer at the forms that are attacking...

The one which had snuck up on Labid is shorter and holds some sort of club...  The one behind Omar holds a shield, and has a linked shirt which sways heavily as it moves.  The one behind Munt is massive and hunchbacked...

"Arm yourself!"  Omar shouts as his own sword leaps to his hand in an instant, slashing out in a cutting strike at the shadow that had attacked Labid.  The sword connects, sending the foe into a half-spin as it staggers to the side.

Labid takes advantage of the momentary reprieve to get back to his feet, the backpack still clutched in his left hand.

"Behind you!"  Munt shouts, perhaps to everyone, though Omar is the one that turns around to find himself face to face with his own foe.

"I'm going!"  Bashar calls, rushing in the opposite direction of Finn, towards the stairs...  Though Finn wonders if his direction hadn't been a little hasty.

For as Finn turns, he now sees the way blocked by three of the shadows, Munt reaching out to grapple his own, though the thing dodges nimbly, striking back with an empty fist which connects against Munt's flesh with a meaty thwack!.

The last of the shadows, staff in hand, Finn watches as it follows Bashar through the doorway...

OOC:  You managed to run across the room, kick the censer (pedistal anyway) and get to where Labid is, though you aren't sure that running from here is the best idea.  All of the shadows now seem full formed, and are blocking your way out, though of course you can attempt to evade them to follow Bashar into the stairwell.  All of the shadows appear to be equipped mimicking your party members, and their own shadows seem to have disappeared, except for yours oddly enough.

Please post 3 rounds of combat.

The meager light of the censer spills over the small cave, highlighting the three shadows now that stalk Finn's crew.  Though Finn only has a moment to size up the situation, he is struck by the stout form of the hunchback shadow that squares up to Munt... the lithe and short bit of darkness that hangs over Labid, and the shielded foe which attacks Omar, its body draped with a swaying chain shirt...  It is almost as if the three men square up against shadow versions of themselves...

As Omar strikes the shadow Labid however, it becomes quickly clear that these shadow things are not invulnerable, and Finn immediately makes to throw the odds even more in their favor!

"I cannot see down here! OOOOOWWWW!"

Bashar's voice echoes upwards from the stairs, punctuated by a sturdy thwack!

Finn lashes out twice with his sword, slicing the shadow ahead of him, and though his sword bites into the dark form, it does not seem to give like normal flesh.  Instead, the blows are resisted at the surface as if stopped by armor, then slowed as they cut as if trying to slice through tar.

Off to his right, Finn barely recognizes the two huge forms of the real Munt and the shadow one, grappled in a tangle of limbs as they fall to the floor!

Beyond, Finn watches as Bashar's terrified form rushes back out of the stairs, his staff held like an aegis in both hands as he turns, facing the stairway as his own shadow form rushes out to meet him!

Finn grunts with effort as he slashes twice more at the shadow Labid, this time cutting deep into the darkened form which shudders in pain as it dissipates into a vaporous shroud of smoke!

But the enemies too, are having their success.  Omar groans in pain as Finn watches the blackened sword dig into the mail at Omar's shoulder...  Finn expects a torrent of blood, but somehow, the sword instead comes away clean, the mail around the wound still completely whole and unblemished...

With a few words and a jerk of his chin, Finn dictates for Labid to help Munt, who has now struggled to his feet, his arms wrapped in a bear hug against his adversary.  Finn meanwhile, moves to Omar's side, cutting his weapon in a wide swipe which clangs loudly as it rebounds from the rim of the shadow shield.

With a roar, Omar's foe cuts his weapon inward and up, completely taking Omar by surprise!  The weapon smashes into the chain links at his side, causing him to spin back, losing his balance as he tumbles akimbo onto his back!

The shadow roars with silent glee as it holds its weapon high overhead brining it down with exaggerated force!

Only at the last moment does Omar manage to get his shield into place, taking the blow off its face as he pushes himself back up to his knees.  The shadow swings again, and this time Omar cannot deflect the blow!  The sword smashes again into chain links, causing Omar to shout in agony, though again as the weapon is pulled away, there is no visible damage at the wound!

But in his zealousness, the shadow has turned his back to Finn, who attacks himself with reckless abandon.  His sword slashes high and low, over and over, smashing shadow chain links as it bites over and over into the thing's magical flesh!

Just as Omar staggers himself back to his feet, sword in hand, Finn manages a final blow, obliterating the foe into a cloud of shadow dust which scatters and falls to the cave floor amidst the blue mist...

Finn swings his head, noticing the last two foes still stand, though Munt is locked in a bitter wrestling match and Bashar too seems to be getting the better of his other, whose staff is now discarded as it fights empty handed.

Finn rushes to Bashar's rescue, but even before he makes it there, his guide swings his staff with a shout, smashing it into the nether being's shoulder and causing the thing to burst into shadow dust.

Finn turns around wildly again, stepping up to last and largest of the shadows.  Munt still grips the other wildly, smashing his foot down across the shadows shins over and over while the foe struggles to break Munt's grip.  But now the other three converge on the last foe, Finn and Omar slashing, and Labid striking with frenzied blows!

The shadow Munt heaves with one last, enormous effort, just as Munt is lifting his foot to strike again.  This time, Munt is not able to keep his grip, and instead loses his balance all together as he strikes out blindly with his foot one last time.  It looks for a moment like the shadow beast could last forever, though at the last a brutal strike to the shoulder by Labid finally sends the shadow back to the nether.

The fight lasted a mere ten seconds, though each and every one of Finn's men seem exhausted by the bout, and Omar sags immediately to the cave floor.

"What in the hells were those?"  He shrugs off his shield and holds an arm up to feel at his collarbone where he was struck by his own doppelganger's sword.  "It doesn't even hurt all that much anymore, but it was so draining!  I feel like I've been running for hours!"

"Me too."  Labid gasps, setting himself down on the cave floor as well, his chest just rising above the mist, which seems to have thinned substantially through the fight.  "I've never seen anything like that before... what was it Finn?"

Finn thinks for a moment that he too, had never seen magic quite like that...  He had never been attacked by a shadow, never before taken physical damage, which only caused for his energy to ebb away...  or had he?

Finn shakes his head at the memory, the blackbird diving at him in the night, tearing at his tiger form and causing him to flee from crater all together...  It hadn't really hurt him... just caused him to flag even more than he already was...  But was that the same?  He had been a tiger when he was attacked, could it have been his shadow in another form?

The form he had taken in the cave.  Finn thinks to himself...  He had been attacked by a shadow of his falcon form...  Perhaps that was why his shadow had not come to life against him now...

Finn ponders their situation for a moment.  While he is loathe to wait here, and chance yet another attack by shadow monsters, he also knows that exploring farther at their current state likely chances even more danger.  Eventually, he calls for everyone to rest where they are.

An hour and a half later, the men are rested, Finn has cast two light spells on small rocks which lay around the room, and Munt has scavenged some materials to fashion them into rudimentary necklaces.  Labid has rooted through the backpack too, which contains various small items, including various packets of dried rations, a half-emptied wine skin, two small daggers that are coated in silver, a hatchet, a leather pouch which boasts two gold dinar and a few dozen or so in dirham and halala, not to mention a pair of small, red stones.  There is also a small folded note, which Labid reads aloud.

"The appointed hour draws nigh, when the undying one will bend to my will, and the mysteries of the unknown world will at last be revealed.  We will not invoke his name for fear of drawing his wrath, or worse, the enmity of his age-old foes.  Therefore, as in days of yore, he will remain unnamed."

"The curse, long have I heard it whispered amongst the mountain folk here, but now I see that it is much more than their foul breeding practices.  It is borne by the spire that imprisons him, and by those that are foolish enough to invoke his name.  But the curse also brings power at obscene cost, and when was it ever not so?  Those that will rule must always rise from the earth."

"The phylactery is mine now.  It is a simple thing of dried clay and mud, easily overlooked and forgotten.  To think, herein lies the power of destruction, of mastery over the one."

"Spider eggs and maggots, beneath my skin it smells of rot, but to my senses it is the smell of triumph.  The time for ascension is upon me, when all will be right in the heavens and I will remake the world according to my will."

"He calls... and I must answer."

"This guy is a fucking loon."  Labid looks up from the paper, his curse-enlarged eyes looking towards Finn's.  "I mean, why even go to the trouble of writing this?  It's like he can't help write a tribute to himself before he goes to try and wake up some old bag of sorcery bones...  I'm assuming he's talking about your old wizard, right?  The undead leech?  I guess we aren't supposed to say his name now?"

"Speaking of curse."  Omar mutters, raising his hand for the rest to see.  His fingers now too have fleshy webbing between them.  It only takes Finn a moment to glance at himself to realize that he too has suffered the first effects of Skoulos's curse.

"It seems I am the only one who has thrown off this curse!"  Bashar exclaims with some surprise, throwing up his own, still pristine fingers for all to see.  "I shall see all of you through this!"

OOC:  It is 1800 on the 1st of June.  Lot of stuff here, including 10 rounds of combat and 90 minutes of rest.  Most of which was covered through a player/GM phone call.  It is possible that I have missed many things through the combat and ensuing action, so feel free to ask questions.  The following is the contents of the backpack:

21 rations
half-empty wineskin
Two silvered daggers
a hatchet
$212 in coin
Two small red stones
Small folded note

You have also made two light stones with the brightness of a torch and turned them into necklaces.  Just let me know who you want to give them to.

Finn reclines in the small cave room, his back supported by the relative softness of his pack and the censer under his feet as he lounges.  He has time to kill after the short skirmish.  He is not as exhausted as his men were from the fight, no his drain came from weaving costly magic.  As Bashar so expertly discovered this place lacks in certain necessities like ample light the mage-thief decided to rectify that situation.

Razzel holds the note in his hand pondering the words as his men, who have now completed their rejuvenation, work on fashioning leather necklaces to hold the light stones he has crafted.  He looks over the writing again and smiles.  As Omar questions the grin Finn easily retorts as he raises the parchment aloft, “Sounds mur lik'a love letter then jus' makin' notes.”

The ever optimist replays the days events in his mind.  Yesterday when he was attacked by the black bird that sucked the energy from him he had guessed it was a familiar, a magical animal pet of the reigning wizard here or perhaps its second.  But after this minor battle the connection is more clear.  There is something about this room, maybe the censer, that summons a doppelganger for each intruder.  Finn exhales a sigh in gratitude that the magic only works once for it freed Razzel to roam the battlefield unencumbered.

He has spent well over an hour in rest, thought and debate.  It is almost time to move on.  He looks again at the webbing infecting his fingers and thinks this is just the beginning.  Stage one as the plague doctors call it.  How many stages are there and what deformities await them he wonders silently.  He holds up the letter.  ”Yuuuup.  We knows two thangs.  One.”  Finn holds up a lone finger on his unused hand.  ”The fill-act-a-thingie, the...vessel, its a simple lookin' clay pot.  I'd bet all a'yer money...”, Finn looks about the room and grins widely hoping that his jest is obvious.  ”...that we destroy the clay pot an’ we destroy the magic holdin' 'im tagether.  An' two.”  Finn now holds up a pair of fingers.  ”The price 'a power comes after his looks.  He got bugs an' shit in his skin.  An' he smeeeeells.  Maybe we get lucky an' we can smell ‘Im 'fore he hears us comin.”

The plucky adventurer had wanted to rest until his body cried for rest no more but something pulls at him.  It wasn't just the worry that they were racing against time.  If they dawdled too long perhaps the curse would render them unable to finish their task.  But it was something else.  Greed.  His old enemy who wore the mask of a friend.  His old unseen tempter whispered in his ear worries of missing out on the treasure that lay beneath his feet.  Ripe for the taking.  Unless he wait too long and miss his chance.  So hopping to his feet and shouldering his pack Finn waves the men to follow him into the stairwell.


OOC:
Since I have rations I will hand the rations out amongst the men where its needed most.  I will take the coin and gems and small note.  Examine the wineskin.  Whats in it?  The hatchet is up for grabs.  I recommend that Omar takes a silver knife.  I the player feel the silver weapons are module foreshadowing.  I will take the other one.

I will take one light necklace and Munt should have the other since he seems to be in the rear in marching order.

Head down the stairs.  Stealth mode.  Anything that looks like it could be trapped stop to have Labid search for traps.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:50, Thu 27 Oct 2022.

Finn looks at the wineskin, uncorking the bladder and smelling at the opening.  He's no connoisseur, but a single whiff is enough to tell him it is actually wine.  Something with a slightly off putting mixture of sour and sweetness, like a sherry, or simply a thin port that's gone stale.

Finn passes out the weapons, with Omar accepting the small dagger and Bashar quickly volunteering to take the hatchet.  It is when Finn is handing the newly fashioned necklace to Munt that he notices that he too, has acquired the oversized eyes that have affected Labid...  Though on Munt's countenance, stitched together like a woven leather ball... the effect hardly makes much of a difference.

Before long, the group is ready to move, despite the fact that Finn is not quite back to his full form after casting his spells.  Still, they must move, and the stairs seem the only reasonable way to go.

Finn leads the way, though he hasn't gone more than a few dozen yards down into the mountain when he finds the first obstacle in their path... or rather the lack of a path is the obstacle...  that and a large bed of spikes.

The stairs have stopped, shallowing out into a flat path that is perhaps six feet wide.  However, that path stops abruptly, leaving a gaping hole in the ground nine feet across before the path starts again on the other side.  The edges of the pit are far too thin to walk across, less even than an inch at the base of the wall.  And as Finn shines his light over the edge, he sees neat rows of long-bodied spikes which line the bottom, stained brown with blood and age, not to mention two humanoid skeletons which lay mostly intact and undisturbed between the spikes that line the bottom.

"Um..."  Labid leans forward, putting himself just a little bit closer to Finn.  "That's a trap...  Not much of a good one though.  Wonder if our crazy friend caved in a false floor when he came by?"

OOC:  It is 1805 on the 1st of June.  The pit is about 6 feet wide, 9 feet long, and easily 20 feet deep, with slick-looking sides that would make it difficult to climb out.   The silver knife is added to your character sheet (with the money and gems added at the end in case of a later split), with the rest of the stuff being taken by the group (you have the note too, but I didn't think it was worth another line on your sheet).  Let me know if you want the wineskin.


Picture for effect

Back in the blue fog cave room Finn had guessed that many more obstacles laid in his path but he had no way of knowing the first would block his journey so soon.  He stands over looking the spiked pit.  Several things cross his busy mind including what belongings these people had when they fell victim to this foul trap.  Surely their gear had been pilfered long ago and a sense of faint loss whirls around within him but he pushes past it to consider how to navigate the dangerous hole.

Razzel sighs heavily as he folds his arms across his chest and rubs his chin thoughtfully with a hand.  ”This's gonna cost us...”, he groans to no one.


OOC:
No thanks.  I'll pass on the wineskin.

Plan A.  Get a hammer and a heavy iron spike.  Cast Levitate on myself.  Float across the pit.  Hammer the spike into the ceiling on the far side of the pit.  Attach the groups rope to the spike.  Bring the rope back to the beginning side of the pit.  Each person in turn will tie the rope around their waist and swing across.  I will be on the other side to grab them and keep them from swinging back to the middle.  Rinse and repeat until we're all across.  Renew the spell one time if necessary, then just stay on the new side.

Plan B, if we lack the proper materials for the above.  I cast Levitate at a higher enough weight limit that I can carry everyone across one at a time.  The base spell should be enough to get everyone over without renewing the spell.

After we get everyone over rest to get back to the fatigue I am at before casting.

This message was last edited by the player at 14:44, Tue 01 Nov 2022.

A plan coming together in his mind, Finn first asks if any of his group had the thought to bring spikes, a rope, or otherwise some other climbing gear they could use to swing themselves across.  Omar again seems outfitted for just such a purpose, pulling out climbing gear, complete with pitons and hooks, a hammer and rope which will accomplish the task better than anything Finn could have thought of himself.

Casting levitation on himself (and cursing, and recasting the spell again), Finn grabs the hammer and the piton, hovering himself across the small gap.  It takes him several moments, but eventually he finds a crack large enough in the rock at the ceiling, and begins to hammer the piton in.

As the shink!  shink!  shink! of the iron blade sliding into the stone resounds in the cave around him, Finn can just barely hear Munt from the other side.

"Why don't we just make a running jump of it?"

Though Finn has not used climbing gear before, preferring his own, natural equipment, the ideas are fairly straight forward and it does not take him long to get the piton secure.  He raps it a few times on each side with the hammer to test that it doesn't move before hovering back across to the other side, grabbing the hook and the rope and tying them off at the point.

"I'll take it first."  Labid says excitedly, grabbing the rope with both hands.  "No sense in sending our heaviest over first right?"

Finn is not even back to the other side to grab his own equipment when Labid is already swinging across, not even having tied himself off per Finn's instructions.

"Yeeeeeeaaaaaah!"  Labid squeals as he grips high on the rope and slides off the edge, his body quickly gaining speed as he swings across.  Finn struggles to get himself out of the way, his movements dulled by the spell which keeps him moving at a level float a few inches above the ground, though Labid seems fine for lack of support and both of his feet alight on the other side as he lands in a crouch with his hands held out wide for balance.

At least, he seems fine for a moment.

KKKKKKKKKKKbah!

All in a moment, the ground beneath Labid begins to grind and fall, as twin doors begin to open up underneath his feet.  Labid grabs for the rope, but it is already falling back behind him and out of reach!  Labid cartwheels his hands as he begins to fall, down, down into a darkened pit underneath his feet!

OOC:  48 of 60 seconds of your levitation spell have passed, leaving you with another 12.  You cast the spell at strength 3, which holds 240 lbs (enough for you to float without carrying a whole lot of extra burden).  Your backpack is currently still resting on the other side of the spike pit.

The other pit (the one which just opened up underneath Labid) covers the next 9 feet beyond the first pit.  The doors which opened up cover most of the width of the corridor, leaving only a few inches on each side.  There doesn't appear to be any spikes at the bottom of this one, though it's hard to tell what is there as it isn't your prime focus at the moment and you've had less than a second to look.

If you wish to catch Labid, roll vs. DX, otherwise you can do anything you can think of.

Finn is happy as a pig in shit as he works to make a rope swing over the spiked pit trap.  His easy smile and relaxed stance are nothing new but Razzel feels particularly joyful in this moment.  So far everything seems to be going their way.  The crazy cult vixen is dead along with her bodyguard and the pair failed to land any lasting injuries to the freedom fighters.  The plucky dungeon delvers even managed to score some nice loot.  As the expedition organizer Finn pounds on the thick climbing spike listening to it echo down the chamber but he cares not.  If his foes are in earshot let them come and get this over with he thinks.

And what came next reminds Razzel of the time he owed a loan shark several hundred gold and time was running out.  After hearing a hot tip on a horse the ever optimistic youth decided to wager what he had which would allow him to pay his debt in full and have a handsome sum left over.  He can still see it unfolding in his minds eye like it was yesterday.  His horse, Uncle Tyrisus, was in the lead by two heads.  But the jockey to the rear was a drunk and began tossing up his late lunch, which caused his horse to pitch violently to the side, right into the back legs of 'ol Uncle Tyrisus.  In the blink of an eye Finn watched his winnings turn into dust.

The mage-thief doesn't know what lies below he just knows he has to try something.  He reaches out a flailing hand that opens and closes like a crab claw.

With lightening reflexes, Finn whips out his arm and grips onto Labid as the youth cartwheels his arms!  Though he struggles to pull the man up, the weight is simply too much for his spell to hold, and Finn feels himself slowly dragged downward by the weight.  In slow motion, the two fall together into the mouth of the pit, Finn pulling upwards for all he is worth to soften the blow.

Slowly, the pit comes into sharp review as Finn's lighted stone begins to reflect off the walls, all of which bevel inwards towards a narrow bottom, which itself is sloped steeply downward towards a dark and narrow opening at the bottom.

"Shit!"  Labid gasps as his foot touches the bottom, immediately slipping before regaining his traction.  "It's slick down here!"

But that isn't all.  For just as Finn clears the open mouth of the pit trap, the heavy false floors swing back up with a grinding bahkkkkkkkkkt! shutting them off from their compatriots above!

"LABID!"  Omar shouts from outside, his voice muffled and obscured by the stone blocking it.  "Finn!  Are you all right?"

OOC:  That was another 10 seconds.  You managed to keep Labid from any injury, though the combined weight pulled you down into the pit trap with Labid, which subsequently closed up behind you.  The good news is, there isn't any boiling acid at the bottom, but instead a sort of chute which promises to send you somewhere else.  The bad news is, no guarantee there isn't boiling acid at the end (though it would seem rather inefficient :D).  You have 2 more seconds of levitation.  Labid seems to be able to hold himself upright while using your levitating form to balance.  There is no flat bottom, but the whole ground is deeply sloped towards the chute opening.  Him holding on prevents you from going up at all however.  Please note whether you want to continue the spell or let it expire.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:15, Mon 07 Nov 2022.

As he has done so many times in his life Finn reacts without thinking.  His hand latches out like a snake, at first Razzel is horrified when he only feels air.  But at the last possible moment the two mens hands close around each other.  Instantly it happens as he expected for while he is no master of magic he understands how the spell works.  Finn has willed the mana to flow around him and lift him like an invisible giant eagle carrying him, but there just is not enough mana to lift two men.  And so they drift downwards into the pit.  He pulls and clenches muscles hoping against hope that this one time he could lift them both up and out but his efforts are in vain.

And then a loud bang above causes his neck to snap up and the plucky leader sees the unexpected, and slight fear creeps over him like a dark cloak.  But instantly his mind calms and he thinks to himself, One war at'ta time...

Mages have a sixth sense about the flow of mana and Finn knows his time is running out.  He has but a few precious seconds before his magic will fade leaving both men victims to this awful trap.  But is it awful?  For them, right now, yes.  If Labid were to fall he would slide down some kind of tunnel to where?  To what?  A cave to be food for some hungry monster?  A gladiatorial ring where prisoners are forced to fight another for the sick enjoyment of their captors?  No.  Likely a prison where he would await his turn to come under the sacrificial knife.  Finn cannot let this happen.  However another side of him admires the genius behind this trap.  To put a fake pit that interlopers will jump over only to succumb to the real pit is inspired.  For a moment he is saddened with jealousy.

With all his might the happy go lucky adventurer pulls the boy up and commands, ”Hang on ta me kid an' do as I say.”


OOC:
Tell Labid to hold onto me so I have one free hand for casting.  Renew my Levitation spell on me.  Cast Levitation on Labid.  Once we have that we both fly up and inspect the trap doors to see if they can be opened from our side.  If so, open them and float back to the group.  If not, see plan B in PM.

Knowing that he has little strength remaining after his spells and even less time, Finn bids Labid to hang on as she shifts his grip, freeing a hand with which to cast.

But even that subtle motion reveals potentially disastrous consequences...

Shifting his own weight slightly, Labid finds that the sloped floor is far slicker than he had realized, and his foot slips, ruining all of his balances as his legs skid helplessly towards the gaping maw at the bottom of the trap.  His hands clasp desperately at Finn, though the sudden movement spoils his grip and for a horrid moment, Finn thinks that the boy is lost!  But acting with uncanny reflexes, Finn snatches out a hand, grabbing Labid at the wrist at the last possible moment!

Slowly, the two begin to slide down the oiled surface of the floor, Labid trying desperately to regain his feet, though completely unable, Finn trying with all his might to both keep them from sliding into the abyss while flickering his other fingers in wild movements to cast another spell of levitation on the boy.

When Finn's first attempt fails, he finds it's simply impossible to regain his concentration as his body is pulled in slow motion towards the edge of the room!  Over and over, Finn cannot clear his mind, his thoughts invaded by the repercussions of failure!

"Levitate!"  Finn screams for the fourth time, and finally, he feels the pull at his hands cease, just as Labids feet had disappeared into the pitch black chute.

The effort has exhausted Finn, though luckily, he only needs his concentration... and a little help from the outside to get them out of here.

"Someone set off the trap!"  Finn shouts, though his voice comes out throaty and weaker than he had meant it...  "And don't fucking fall in!"

Slowly, Finn and Labid begin to float upwards on the force of Finn's two separate spells.  The moments drag on as sweat pours down Finn's face, though eventually, Finn hears a soft thud on the ceiling above before the grating sound of the trap...  KKKKKKKKKKKbah!

Above, Munt hangs like a monkey upon the rope, one hand high, the other lazily falling by his side as his two legs wrap around the remaining length.  Munt looks more in his element than Finn has ever seen him...  His posture seems almost erect hanging there as he is.

Finn has no time to think on how to get Munt back across, but it makes little difference, for as Finn and Labid climb out of the pit and float back across the first pit, Munt simply lowers himself to the floor, wrapping his toes around the edge of the spike pit, before launching himself across like a diver, landing on all fours just across the other side.

"Gods!"  Labid curses as his spell ends and he touches down on the ground.  "You saved my life Finn!  Nothing like a near fall to your doom to really get the blood flowing!"

"Don't joke about your own death."  Omar grunts with annoyance in his voice.  "We thought you were both gone!"

Though they have made it out of the scrape, Finn doesn't feel very far from gone...  His body is wracked with the efforts of spell casting.  His heart thrums in double time and his chest heaves his breaths to catch up...  He feels as if he can barely move... and all that for having rested almost all of the past 90 minutes...

"Maybe we should send someone ahead to scout."  Omar offers in a perturbed voice as it becomes apparent that Finn is in no condition to move ahead.

OOC:  Ok, the planned worked mostly as you wanted, though Labid missed a DX roll to stay upright (luckily you succeeded yours to grab him) and you failed several will rolls in a row in order to cast.  You are back down to 1 FP and both of your levitation spells have expired without renewal.  You are all now on the blue mist cave side of the pit trap.

Finn lay on his back breathing in and out slowly.  He is aware of conversations and movements around him but his mind processes these events slowly and roughly.  He knows he is missing the finer detail.

Standing over him the youth spits out, “You saved my life Finn!”.  The plucky leader has a monologue he wants to deliver in response surrounding five or six points but the idea of that much talking drains what little strength he has left and all that comes out is, ”I know.”

He feels the weakness in his limbs almost as pain.  Every movement seems to hurt.  Not the kind of pain that comes from a cut but more a dull ache.  The only thing that brings relief is not to move.  Yes, staying still feels as comforting as being wrapped in a blanket by a fire.  Rarely is he this exhausted, he knows it will be some time before he is ready to move.

This would be a good time to review the trap and his solution, and perhaps the love letter he has pocketed.  But, his mind is too tired.  It wants rest too.  And then as if his men understand his predicament one of them offers, "Maybe we should send someone ahead to scout."  Yes!  Finn thinks to himself.  One of you should wander off and see what lies beyond this cursed trap.  An' while ya do, I'll just stay here an' close mah eyes.

Finn mutters a soft, ”Ya.  Go.  But...be careful.”  The words come slower than he meant and Razzel had intended to lift an arm and point into the distance but his limb stubbornly ignores him.


OOC:
Sounds good.  Finn needs rest and will do nothing else for at least 90 minutes but preferably he wants 2 hours.  During the later stages he'll be more alert and can talk if needed.  Finn would suggest Munt go since he seems best suited with his high ST and apparently former training as an Olympic athlete.

Completely spent, Finn simply lays against the wall like a puddle of goo, allowing Munt to go on ahead to scout.

Again, Finn is somewhat shocked by Munt's display of skill and grace as the hunchbacked mutant leaps across the first pit from a stand, grabbing onto the rope to keep himself from falling into the second trap, then leaping across the second after he triggers the device with a tentative foot dangling down from the rope above.

Munt slowly drifts out of sight as he walks along the path ahead, the haloed reflection of his light stone on the walls disappearing only a few moments afterword.

Munt is gone for perhaps a half an hour before the orange glow returns, followed by Munt's disfigured form.  He is somewhat more ginger as he crosses this time, finding the trap with his hands which reach out in front of him.  Again the pit opens with a grinding kkkkkkkkkkbah! and Munt again leaps across, grabbing the rope for stability as he plants his toes on the narrow gap between the two traps.  Again he leaps, this time clearing the last pit by over a foot and a half before he crouches down to place his chest upon his knees, his head nearly now at the level of Finn.

"Well."  Munt starts in his soothing baritone.  "There's nothing that way.  Path ends only a little ways up."

"What?"  Labid can't help himself from exclaiming in shock.  "Why the hell were you gone so long then?"

Munt shrugs.  "Finn had to rest, so I knew I had time.  I thought I would look around and see if there was some other way.  Something secret.  I didn't find anything though."

"So you mean..."  Omar starts, his voice colored with high dudgeon.  "That the only way on is down that pit slide?  Or is this cave even the right way we are supposed to go?"

OOC:  It is 1935 on the 1st of June.

I fast forwarded 90 minutes since that was the less of the two times you gave me.  Feel free to add more time to rest in your OOC comments in the next post.  If you do opt to rest longer, give me a HT roll please.

Finn is no stranger to resting and lounging.  Normally being a mercenary is full of arduous work.  Long marches and intense battles often carrying twenty to a hundred pounds of gear are often the norm so sell swords can frequently be seen sitting and catching their breath.  But Razzel is unique in that most of his exhaustion comes from the strain of bending reality to his will.  To change the laws of nature, such as making a man float through the air, is as strenuous as carrying a dead body across a battlefield.  So the mage-thief relaxes as Munt explores.

Razzel normally would let his mind wander during this time of the traps that likely lay ahead, forward looking strategies he should be mulling over, and the treasures that lay waiting for him to pluck them.  But instead during this time he is thinking about Munt.  During his time at Perdition Finn was often frustrated over the discord between he and his friends.  Many times he felt at odds and it saddened him.  It left him longing for traveling companions who could follow him on his fool errands but without the infighting that seemed to plague him at the ancient prison.  The plucky leader watches in near awe as Munt traverses the rope and pits like a monkey, hopping, swinging and jumping as if he were born to do it.  It also doesn't hurt that the mans arms are barrels and his thighs are like tree trunks.  This isn't the first time a nagging voice in his mind has been coaxing him to ask Munt to continue on with him after they finish here.  And now, that voice is turning from a whisper into a something like a conversation.

Finn eagerly listens to the report, hungry to find out where the path goes next and his face falls when he hears the news of nowhere.  He sighs and rubs his chin thoughtfully.  ”I wanna go.  But I aint done cookin' yet.  So why doan ya'll poke 'round the blue mist room.  If you see any signs 'a shadows hightail it outta there.  If its clear, an' I 'spect it will be, looky see if ya can find a hidden door.”

He pauses for a moment to look at the expecting faces of his men to see if they understand where he's going.  ”Those naked fucks, the drum beaters, they had ta come from somewhere's.  And I sure as hell bet they didn't climb up a greasy chute.”


OOC:
Rest another 30 minutes.  During that time ask all the men to travel back to the censor room where we fought the shadows.  I am guessing since I only had one the shadows are one and done and my men shouldnt have any hostiles.  If I am wrong have them retreat into the stairwell and call for me to come help.

If they meet no resistance search the room for secret doors for the bulk of the 30 minutes.  If they find nothing looks like Door #3 (greasy chute) is our path forward.

How much rope does the group have?  I am now thinking we combine all our ropes and they lower me down.  If the rope doesnt let me touch bottom I can go as far as I can by rope and Levitate my way down.

Is there any scaffolding that could make a bridge across the spiked pit?  Any boards long enough to make a walkable span so they can just walk across?
This message was last edited by the player at 21:01, Mon 14 Nov 2022.

Still not feeling at the top of his game, Finn bids the others to go back and search the room with the blue mist as he continues to rest.  Omar nods shortly before turning and walking the others back up the stairs.

"Make sure you bring the light!"  Omar adds to Munt over his shoulder, and the other takes a last look at Finn before making his way up the stairs with the others.

Alone with his thoughts, Finn's mind dwells on the otherworldly Munt.  Though his features are horrifying at first sight, his skin patched and stitched together as a quilt and his features asymmetric as if drawn on by a child, Finn cannot help but say that he has grown attached to the soft-spoken hunchback.  Apart from being dead useful, Munt has shown that he has a steel trap mind, and Finn has been astounded by the things he has repeated from Haj-Umr's lips, things that Finn is certain that the old necromancer could never have imagined that Munt would have remembered or even understood at the time...

...Though Finn would have to remind himself that he could never show his new friend in polite company...

"What are we even looking for?"  Finn hears Labid's voice reverberate to him from up the stairs after several minutes have past.

"Could be anything..."  Finn hears Omar answer.  "A catch or clasp, some sort of pull hidden within the stone...  or possibly there's nothing at all...  Just look for anything.  Use those big old eyes of yours."

"Dick."  Labid answers.

"We should look for hollow spots in the wall!"  Bashar's overexcited voice followed by the high pitched rapping of the man's staff over and over in rapid succession.  "We will be able to hear where there is a door when the sound changes!  Because solid stone sounds different than air!"

The rapping continues, over and over the high pitched thwack! sounds in Finn's ears.  Though the distance no doubt has dulled the sound, Finn nevertheless cannot help but wonder if the man is going to break his staff in his overzealous attempts at searching.

"Maybe...."  Omar's voice is cut with the clench-teeth sound of annoyance.  "You should try a little farther apart than every inch?  I don't think you're going to need to find a doorway that's the size of a pinhole..."

"You said yourself it could be anything!"  Bashar answers right away and with exuberance.  "We should not leave to chance missing something just because it is small!"

Thwack!  Thwack!  Thwack!

Finn bites back some annoyance of his own.  He wishes he had learned Judoc's method of clearing his mind and resting through meditation...  The templar student had seemed to regain his fatigue much faster using the method... and perhaps it would have allowed him to empty his mind of the trivial annoyances.

"Hey, what's this?"  Labid's voice reaches Finn after several more minutes.  "Is this something like you were talking...?"  But the question remains unfinished, for it is overshadowed by a dull grinding sound of stone raking against stone.

"Hey!  That's it!"

Unable to keep to himself sitting any longer, Finn works himself to his feet and walks himself back up towards the room with the blue mist.

As soon as he steps out, it's clear that Labid has found their way on, for a whole section of the wall has pulled away and out of the room, exposing an exit at the back of the cave which leads on to a large square shaft circled with stairs that lead ever downward...

But Finn also notices Munt, who leans his hunchbacked form against the wall of the cave, the lighted stone hanging from his neck highlighting his pale skin which now boasts dark and heavy spots.  His face, normally stretched thin at the seams now appears mottled and worn like it is bearing some heavy and painful fungus...

OOC:  It is 2005 on the 1st of June.

30 more minutes of rest for you.  I think your questions in OOC are moot, but just in case you are still thinking them through - you can definitely plunder from the scaffolding outside around the cave entrance.  If you desire to do so, roll vs. scrounging.  The effort will take an hour (of disassembling the scaffolding) before you have all of your stuff together to try and make an impromptu bridge.

Note that once you have all the stuff together, you would still need to take the time and make a skill roll to build a bridge over the pit (Carpentry or Engineering are both possibilities).

Unfortunately, Omar was the only one to bring rope (about 10 yards), and that rope is still hanging from the ceiling over the pit.

In his younger days Finn hated times like this. His spell weaving drained him like nothing else and he sat on his ass while the rest of his team did the heavy lifting.  Sometimes literally.  It irked him, sitting around.  True it was a necessary thing, and in the grand scheme his magic had saved Labid from whatever lay at the bottom of the greasy chute.  So he had done some pretty heavy lifting in his own way.  Still it gave the young man ants in the pants to hear what his men were up to and not be able to partake.

His mind continues to mull over the interesting bits dangling just out of reach, and frustratingly so.  There is the usual treasures and magical texts surely in the catacombs and hidden chambers below.  But his focus seems stuck on imagining dragging Munt all over creation with him on new adventures especially now that hes seen a new side to the beast of a man.

Finally it is over.  And painful this one was.  For not only is the time boring and seems to take five times longer than it actually does, but Razzel knows time is against them.  It is like Death.  An invisible foe who stalks in the shadows waiting to send them to a dirt nap at the most inopportune time.  He stands, gathers his gear and heads back up the stairwell to see his mens handiwork.  He smiles and pats them on the back encouragingly when he sees the secret door revealed.  Not long after it formed his smile fades as he catches Munts features and posture in the flickering light.  Finn puts a hand on the mans shoulder gingerly.  This man who bravely dove in after the mage-thief to save him from a nest of crocs.  ”You ok?  I cun mend cuts an' scrapes.  Bruises an' bumps.  Some deep cuts act'chally.  Sorry mah friend.  This's beyond me.  But we'll fine a cure. Dont worry.”


OOC:
Yes, now that we found a way forward the scaffolding question is moot.

Follow the new stairwell down.  Marching order as before.  Stealth mode.  Watch for traps.


This message was last edited by the player at 17:25, Wed 16 Nov 2022.

As Finn asks Munt if he is ok, the other lifts himself back up, forces a wan smile and offers only, "I don't feel well.   But no worries, this will be short lived no doubt."

Accepting that there is little more to be done, Finn pushes on ahead, leading the way into the stairwell with Labid, who keeps his eyes wary for trips and traps.

Finn holds his light aloft, showing some relief on the square shaft and the stairs that spiral downwards.  It is not overly large... perhaps a twenty foot square with the stairs not quite wide enough to comfortably go two across.  At each corner, the stairs flatten out to a small, five foot landing before turning left and continuing down with a further descending flight.

The inside of the shaft is entirely open, and below...  thirty feet?  forty?  Finn can see that the shaft ends with a carved stone bottom, a nasty fall if any of them were to slip or be pushed from the steps.

But such does not happen.  Once the five wind their way around the outside of the shaft once, passing four of the small landings as they go, they step down onto the bottom and see that the way ahead is open.

There is another small room ahead, not much bigger than the shaft that the five just descended and far shorter.  Finn thinks that even he might have to crouch to though the space.  Finn can see that on the far wall there are two doors, tinged green with age, and some sort of of decoration set upon each of their faces...

OOC:  The ceiling in the room ahead is very low, at only about 4 feet.  There are two doors that you can see in the distance that seem to have some sort of circular mark set about their center, but you aren't really close enough to see it yet.

Finn silently curses himself a fool for not thinking of it.  And his men, are they dim or being courteous by not pointing it out to him now.  The cultists, they had to come some easy way to get out into the courtyard.  Surely they weren't going to jump over a spiked pit.  He should have given the matter a bit more thought before blindly throwing himself forward.  By trying to save time he has lost much of the precious thing, and Munt is suffering for it.

And what is happening to the poor man?  No doubt it is some kind of disease.  The curse the mad witch hinted at before she offed herself.  But what is it?  Is he slowly dying?  Is he becoming a rotting corpse before their very eyes?  Didn't she say something about being reborn, revived from death? Razzel shudders for a moment as he tries to shake off the disgusting images rolling around in his head.

He is almost glad for the distraction when they come upon the low ceilinged room.  He eyes the pair of doors with their strange symbols.  He grunts angrily.  ”I'll go.  I doan trust it.  If it goes sideways, git me out.”


OOC:
Walk into the room and move cautiously to the door to inspect each one.  Do not touch them unless all seems safe.  Leave my pack behind and bow behind so I am at None encumbrance.

Untrusting of the room with the exceptionally low ceiling, Finn drops his backpack and crouches down, leading the way himself while the other stay behind.

Slowly, painstakingly, Finn moves his way forward, keeping his eyes peeled and his ears open for traps or triggers that could be anywhere.  The low ceiling of the narrow chamber looms above and Finn places a hand above him as a constant reminder of how low he much crouch.  The air here is thick with dust, though Finn eventually makes it all the way across to the two small portals.

Both of the bronze doorways are tinged dark green with age, each with a single keyhole set in their center, though they each boast different features on their fronts.  To the left, the doorway is boasts the depiction of a howling monkey... though the face is unnatural, carved far gaunter and meaner than any of the pictures Finn has seen before.  The thing too has horns, and its teeth and mouth are stained as if painted before the metal slowly corroded with age.  The right portal depicts an even stranger amalgam...  The face is long like a man's, though its skin is scaled like a snake, and set in the middle is the sharp pointed beak of a hawk.  The thing's eyes are set narrowly, and gleam with small red gems which are deep-set in the metal.

Above the doors, set upon the low ceiling is another fixture of bronze, this one with Arabic letters that Finn must crouch and angle his necklace to read...  Though undoubtedly, once he can find the right glint across the pressing to make it legible, Finn can make out familiar lettering...

S K O U L O S

Finn turns back, touching nothing.  He sees his four men crouching down in the room behind to track his progress.  Though as he shifts the light, Finn notes a small yellow glint from high up on the right wall of the room...

OOC:  Over to your judgement if everything seems safe.

As Finn crouches and half crab walks through the strange room the dust clouds his vision and fills his lungs.  It is more of an irritant but it is there nonetheless and he finds himself longing for the fresh air of the crocodile lake and the gatehouse assassins.  This tomb has not let him down.  He had days to ponder what sickness he would find in a sunken ancient keep of the mad wizard and so far he has not been disappointed.  A trap within a trap and dead end, and now this.  Razzel finds himself staring at the two faces looking back at him.  A rage monkey with horns, and a snake man with the beak of a hawk.  A quick search of his memory for references reveal nothing.  He does note however that his gaze lingers a little too long on the red gem eyes as the wheels of his mind spin at how to steal them, and knowing this place it likely triggers the door to shut and the ceiling to lower thereby crushing all would be thieves.

Finn turns to head back to his men and report when his keen eye catches the yellow shine of something high on the wall.  Probably another jewel he thinks to himself as he begins crab walking.  And then his mind wanders and he begins comparing this old ruins with that of Perdition.  The old prison had the cells and underground tunnels.  This place has is double pit trap and greasy chute.  Who comes up with this stuff?  Is there a college where they teach engineers to design the lairs of mad tyrants?  Finn chuckles quietly to himself but then he realizes there might be such a thing.  He should ask Judoc if he ever runs into the man again.

Passing by the yellow colored object Finn returns to his men.  He lets out a soft groan as his lips curl involuntarily.  ”It'sa monkey, with horns.  And a snake-man, an' its got a beak.  Like a hawk beak.  Munt, any 'a this ring a bell?”


OOC:
Make a side trip to see what the yellow light on the wall is.  Then return to the men to see if any of this sounds familiar from the work of their former master.  Also tell them of the plate over the heads reading “Skoulos”.


Regardless of their information invite the men into the room.  Have Labid inspect the doors for traps and to see if he thinks they can be opened.

Heading back to his men, Finn stops along the way to investigate the small glittering in the wall.  In a shallow recess near the top of the wall, he finds a pair of keys, each of them hung on a small hook to keep them in place.  Finn notes they seem exactly the same, apart from a small stone set into each, the left one a small green gem... perhaps a tourmaline or an emerald, the right one a red one.  Finn leaves the keys for a moment, heading back to his men to explain.

Munt slowly shakes his head when Finn asks if the two visages shaped upon the door are familiar.  "Master might have known, though he didn't speak of them.  He was nearly as infatuated with demonic beings as the old Malak Al-Mawt, it was one of the things that had drawn him to this place... and to Perdition."

It is Labid though, that seems to be the only one as bothered as Finn is about the room.  "Odd isn't it?"  He scratches his chin, his overgrown eyes blinking back his look of confusion.  "Seems like these crazies can't make up their mind.  First they say Skulous, then they say they'll never say Skulous... then they write it all over their stupid walls."  He shakes his head, moving forward with the others to investigate the room.  All of them have to crouch uncomfortably, Omar is the tallest and has difficulty with the process, though it is Munt who seems the most uncomfortable.  Despite his normal, hunched over posture, it seems he has little room in his normal gate to get any lower to the ground, forcing him to lean to the side in a particularly unbalanced sort of way.

It takes Labid only a few moments to deduce that the keys themselves are not trapped, for the hooks are fixed into the wall and do not seem to be set with any levers or pulls.  He lifts the two small trinkets, pocketing them as he goes over to investigate the doors.

He too, seems to be attracted to the hawk-like visage first, whether for the red gems set in its face or for some other reason.  Labid goes about his investigations here more slowly, looking at the edges of the portal, the caricature displayed on its face, and finally the keyhole that sits at its center.

"I mean...  I'd guess that the keys go to the doors."  Labid says slowly, trying to make out anything within the dark and narrow keyhole.  "I don't see any latches in there, but it's sooo dusty.  Munt, will you hold the light a little closer?"

Labid blows at the opening, hoping to do away with some of the residue, but the subtle movement of air sets many more things in motion.

Behind them, Finn watches as wall of stone falls from the ceiling, separating his whole group from the stairwell behind them.  At near the same moment, Finn hears above them the dull, loud, grinding of stone... what he had feared from the moment he had stepped into this claustrophobic chamber.  Finn can feel the ceiling above dropping slowly, pushing down upon him.

"Shit!"  Labid reaches into his pocket, pulling out the two keys.  "Which one do we pick?"

OOC:  In searching for traps, Labid managed to trigger it.  You are now fully closed off in the short room, with the only noticeable exits being the two doors.  Labid has the two keys and It's assumed you got your backpack since you invited the others into the room with you.

Stopping here to give you the choice.  The doors are not far apart and the ceiling is not dropping down quickly, though it is clearly dropping down.

For the span of about a minute, which felt more like an hour, Finn wondered silently how  he was going to open the doors.  Certainly they wouldn't be unlocked, and they looked too heavy to be forced open or broken apart.  Inwardly Razzel cringed at his chances against these heavy doors which obviously were the focus of much attention.  So of course he breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted a pair of keys.

As the jovial leader walks back to the men and relates what he sees he turns the keys over in his mind.  One has a small red gem.  Does the red key correspond to the red gems in the snake faced man door?  Or is this another ruse, meant to fool intruders and lead them down a false path where only the true believers who dwell here know the real matching of key and door?  Finn would match red with red.  Not because he's a simpleton but because people like him would expect the ruse and pick the opposite of what's obvious.  However, the tyrant here is a mage, he isn't a dullard.  Knowing that people like Finn would pick the opposite of obvious because he is anticipating his foes move, would Malakai switch the keys to make a green-red combination work?   And then his mind devolves into a circular logical storm that distracts and confuses any higher thinking.  He is grateful that none is required at the moment as he scoops up his pack and bow and watches his men mill about the room.

Thankfully he doesn't have long to suffer in the torture of which death door to choose as a crashing noise spins his head.  He chuckles out loud as the cunning mage-thief begins walking towards the doors.  After the double pit trap this outcome was almost certain, it would be comforting if it weren't so deadly.  He knows the time for analysis has past.  Whatever choice is to be made the time is now for if a fight lies head the men cannot win lying on their bellies.

Finn holds out a hand, a gleaming key in his finger tips.  ”Be read-ah fer en-ah-thin.”


OOC:
Pack is over my shoulder.  Bow is in left hand.  Put the red gem key into the door with the man-snake face, the door with the red gems.