Whoops!  I forgot about the characters with infravision.  Oh, well.  A light spell does the trick for everyone.

You find yourselves in a large crypt.  The center of the room is dominated by an ornate stone sarcophagus.  It is rests on a oval dais with short steps leading up about two feet.  The taller characters can see the lid of the sarcophagus which depicts the outline of a tall warrior in plate mail.  The walls of the crypt are also oval in alignment with the dais with the walls about 15 feet from the base of the dais.

The party is huddled together between the left wall and the left side of the dais.  There is a large wooden door in the wall at the foot end of the dais (which, assuming that is the stone-repelling wooden door you have been dealing with, would put you on the west side of the crypt and the door on the south end).  You do not see any other doors or exits.

The walls are covered in writing in a language none of you recognize.  The letters and figures appear to glow slightly as they absorb the light from Elwood's spell.  Short pillars with kobold statues atop them are placed around the perimeter of the crypt.  Unlike the gargoyles outside, these kobold statues are smaller than life-sized kobolds and painted (the gargoyles were made of unadorned stone).

The ceiling is at least 20 feet high and covered in tiny points of light that look like stars in the night's sky.  These "stars" also begin to glow faintly as they absorb the spell light.


The stone floor is unusual, as well.  Ribbons of precious metals are imbedded in the stone blocks creating beautiful and unfamiliar designs.

Cole's best guess is the ticking sound is coming from the walls themselves, perhaps inside the walls.


Anthony notes the walls and ceiling radiate as moderately magical while the sarcophagus radiates with strong magic.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:44, Tue 18 Apr 2017.

Anthony breathes deeply and then turns to Dreya, smiling broadly and speaking with genuine admiration in his voice. "Marvelous, Dreya! Most marvelous!"

He then turned his attention to the room around them...



Elwood is looking around the room and points these things out to the others. He then winces as he inadvertantly stares at Elwood's shield. "And Elwood's shield is obviously magical. Warn me before you do that when I have detect magic active, would you?"

He moves closer to the sarcophagus to continue examining it. "Seline, I would take particular caution when dealing with the sarcophagus."

Dreya nods weakly, stepping behind the cleric to shield her aching eyes from the light on his shield. "Oooh...my head...keeps pounding...faster...sit. I...think I need to sit."  With that, the druid sinks to the coolness of the stone floor.

Seeing the little one sink to the floor, Jack moves over to make sure she's alright and offer words of encouragement. "Well done Dreya. Color me impressed!"

Casting his eyes about the room, he muses, "There has to be another door somewhere. Perhaps hidden. Maybe even something to do with that sarcophagus."

With that, Jack starts to circle the room, looking for any sign of a concealed passage in the walls. Finally, he inspects the dais and sarcophagus, careful not to touch either of them.

Seline makes a slow thorough inspection of the walls and the writing, once she finishes inspecting the walls she would move over and inspect the dias first and then the sarcophagus.

OOC: Seline is going to be checking for traps and hidden doors

"Oh, uhm, sorry about that Anthony."  Elwood points his shield so that it's not shining in anyone's eyes.  "We've only a few minutes before that ticking sound becomes a constant buzz.  I guess it's like a timer."  Elwood decides to help find an exit out and casts Detect Secret Doors.

Elwood's spell reveals there are secret doors throughout the crypt.  With a little more concentration, he is able to pinpoint the secret doors.  There are full-sized secret doors on the east and west walls of the crypt (3 in each), a full-sized secret door in the north wall, and many tiny secret compartments in the walls three feet and six feet off the ground.  With further concentration, Elwood may be able to identify triggering mechanisms to open the secret doors.

Seline notices and is able to confirm the ticking is accelerating.  She will not be able to inspect everything in the room before the ticking reaches a continuous buzz (expiration of a possible timing device?).  Please let me know what you want to look at and in what order.

Anthony and Jack inspect the sarcophagus.  They do not really notice anything special about the sarcophagus beyond its initial description.  It has a massive stone lid.  The party might be able to slide it off if multiple PCs work at it together.

Dreya enjoys the cool floor of the chamber.

For now Cole will stand guard, Vera at the ready, beside Dreya keeping his eyes trained at any exits if any are visible as he waits to see what his comrades find.

(Cole will lend a hand in removing the lid of the sarcophagus if his party should decide they would like it removed, although, he would voice concern in having it checked for traps before doing so.)

Anthony shares everything he learns and then stands away. "It would be prudent for me to stay here and maintain concentration on my spell while some others lift the sarcophagus. I am not very good with lifting," he admits meekly.

Dreya casts Know Direction to figure out where North lies. Then she points it out to the rest of her party.

"North lies that way," she says as she picks herself up off the floor, swiping a hand against her backside to brush off tomb dust from her fur hide skirt. Dreya freezes as five pairs of eyes slowly swing her way like she had gone crazy. Or with blank confusion...Dreya couldn't tell which.

"Uh...so we can tell what direction to go to get to the Pain Temple?"

The wooden door at the foot of the sarcophagus is south.  The secret door at the head of the sarcophagus is to the north.

It is difficult to gauge the acceleration of the ticking, but you are all pretty sure the "countdown" will wrap up within a couple minutes.

"I say we try one of the secret doors, perhaps that one," indicating the north door. "Can you figure out how to get them open?"

Elwood continues concentrating on his casted Detect Secret Doors spell to determine the mechanisms for opening them.

With a shrug, Dreya moves around the wall that is the Cleric and tries to open the secret door.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:45, Thu 20 Apr 2017.

Seline investigates the north secret door looking for traps and opening mechanisms

In reply to Dreya (msg # 66):

Which secret door?  There are 3 on the west wall, 3 on the east wall, and one on the north wall.

The one on the north!

Anthony agrees with that choice and stands back while the others search that door and open it.

Dreya is probably already reaching for the north door...being such an inexperienced adventurer she doesn't think doors already hidden would have trapa.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:17, Fri 21 Apr 2017.

Cole reaches out and pulls Dreya back.  Seeing the startled look on the druid nymph's face, he points to Seline.  "Wait until Seline gives the ok.  The door could be trapped."

Dreya sputters for a moment as she gestures from the secret north door to the room, looking quizzically up at the tall Ranger as her hands flutter about. "But...it is secret already. Why trap? And the ticking...my head will explode, I fear!"

Seline carefully inspects the secret door to the north.  Sadly, she doesn't spot the trap on the door and manages to trigger it while checking the door over.  A dart shoots out from the door and pokes her for 1 point of damage.  On the plus side, she doesn't feel poisoned and is confident she knows how to open the door.

In the meantime, the ticking is becoming quite fast.  The "countdown" is rapidly coming to a close.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
10:12, Today: Castle Keeper, on behalf of Seline, rolled 1 using 1d4.  Trap damage.
10:12, Today: Castle Keeper, on behalf of Seline, rolled 9 using 1d20+3.  Dodge trap.
10:10, Today: Secret Roll: Castle Keeper, on behalf of Seline, rolled 12 using 1d20+3.  Check for traps.

---

Dreya flings open the secret north door and darts inside. Since Cole stopped her from opening it before and is probably the closest, Dreya grabs his arm and tries to drag the ranger in with her. She will even roll for a strength check to do it!

Once inside, she spins around, frantically gesturing at the othets with crazy hand waves to hurry and follow.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:27, Mon 24 Apr 2017.

Anthony, being fond of perpetuating life, hurries and follows, heading in quickly to the other side of the door.