"How are we going to get her back from there? Could a length of rope be attached to an arrow, secured to this end also, then fired the length of the passage - whereby Safherd might attach herself at the far end, then with our combined strength pull her back through more quickly than she might run?"

Lander rather felt his notions were getting more and more absurd by the hour.

"The triggers are the floor plates, if you're above the plates, nothing to trigger them!" Solomon adds!

Safherd draws her sword and climbs on top of the black sarcophagus. She swings the blade up toward the ceiling. There is the sound of a metallic clang.  ”That will throw the crossbow’s aim off. I think I have a way to deal with the closing walls.”

“The blades swing in a fixed pattern, so I should be able to avoid them on the way back. There’s no dodging the fire, however.”

She climbs down. ”There isn’t any way to disarm the traps on this side. I suspect, Bato didn’t need to do so in order to leave this place.”

She steps back over to the open steel sarcophagus. ”I’m sure this was where Bato’s vessel was. There are runes inscribed on the inner walls of the sarcophagus.” She takes a piece of parchment from her pack, along with a thin piece of charcoal, and copies the symbols. ”It looks like the fluid that collected at the bottom of this sarcophagus is blood. But, that’s why I don’t think what was kept here was human. The blood is a deep violet color.”


Turning her attention to the closed onyx sarcophagus, she walks around it perimeter, examining it closely before placing her hands on the lid and pushing with all the strength she can muster. After a moment, the lid falls off with an audible crash. ”Vocos Bato,” she calls out breathlessly, ”Just a skeleton in a simple black robe. There is a scroll case in here, made of bone. I do not think it has been opened.”

She gestures behind her. ” You probably cannot see it from there, but there is some kind of ritual circle behind me. It takes up most of the dais. The center of it appears burnt.”

"If you were to extract a sample of the blood from the box, Safherd, Mazzahs could likely identify its source," Barnabus calls out, "the better to locate the sophist."

"Scuff up that circle while you're at it and have a peek at the burnt offerings. It might complicate his return to his tomb."

Barnabus looks over at Mal and then speaks one more time to burglar: "You could do a bit of burgling, too, if you're of a mind to. The robe might look good on Mal and Mazzahs might want those bones."

He says nothing about the scroll case. There was no question about that. He wonders why he thought he would be able to speak with the dead in Batos's barrow. Such a feat would have been well beyond his power. He should have prepared animal growth instead, allowing him to have transformed himself into a King Mallard. No, wait, that wouldn't have worked.

Such is the trend his thoughts take after he has finished speaking.

"Just be well prepared to heal her Barny, she's going to need it. Should we go in and meet her when she gets through the blades? Or wait here?" Solomon asks.

Malivoire recovered his breath as Safherd called out what she found at the far end of the hallway.  His attention sharpened when she described the blood found in the otherwise empty sarcophagus, his eyes widening as the implications struck home.

"Please do grab a sample if you're able, Safherd!" he called out, echoing Barnabus' request.  Regarding those gathered in the antechamber with a serious face, he added, "That is doppelganger blood.  Ingenious, but terrifying." Bato could now be anyone he wanted.  Anyone in the whole wide world.

"I think it best that we let her navigate the corridor as she sees fit, Solomon.  Just be ready to assist if she falters, but otherwise stay out her way."  Safherd never ceased to amaze him, and Malivoire wasn't about to bet against her now.

Safherd moves to the rear of the dais, scuffing the stone surface with the sole of her boot. She shakes her head. ”There does not appear to be anything that was burned in the center of the circle. It looks as if the stone itself was burned. Blackened. But there are no ashes or anything else there.”

She collects a sample of blood from the steel sarcophagus into an empty glass vial. ”Do not worry too much, Solomon,” she says, easily able to hear her fellow adventurers’ conversation, ”I know that Nineve used quite a bit of healing power to help the ones who had been injured in the previous tomb, but I’m certain that Barnabus will  be able to help me, should I return.”

With great care, she removes the skeleton’s robe. Although the adventurers cannot clearly see any fine details from where they stand, it appears to be a plain black garment. Placing it and the scroll case in her pack, she pauses. ”Are you sure it is wise to take Bato’s bones?”
This message was last updated by the player at 02:02, Tue 16 Apr.

In his best pedagogic manner, Barnabus provides an exegesis of today's as of yet unwritten parable, propounding that "reward" must outweigh "risk" by a magnitude "acceptable to all." Mallards figure prominently in the parable.

"Nope. Not sure. No need to rattle them bones. Come on back and have a healing pot on the house.."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:03, Tue 16 Apr.

"Wait a moment, Safherd." Dax looks to the rest of the group, "If Bato has possessed a doppelganger as Mal suspects, he can take on any form he wishes. If those are his bones, could Mazzahs or Brother Othar use them as a tool against Bato? If there is even a small chance we should take them back to Helix."

"I can confirm Malivoire's conclusion on the violet blood - it can only be that of a doppelganger. And I would bring back at least some of the bones, Safherd. Dax may well be correct in that regard, or at least, we can have Mazzahs look into it rather than have to return here for them another time."

Lander waited with the rest for the thief's return. Were they all holding their breath?

Safherd draws a sack from her backpack and carefully places the bones of the sorcerer within it. She pauses to make certain that all of items she has collected are secured on her person.

That done, she takes hold of the steel sarcophagus’ lid and, using the strength of her legs, shoves it off of the dais toward the steel corridor. As the lid slides onto the passageway’s metal floor, the western and eastern walls once again come together with a bone jarring impact.

As the walls retract, revealing the now mangled sarcophagus lid, Safherd dashes through the gap, launching herself into another dive as the jets of flame come to life once again. Although her jump is graceful and aimed well, one of the columns of flame still catches the young woman’s calf as she passes.

10:58, Today: Labyrinth Lord rolled 3 using 1d6.  Damage.

She has barely enough time to recover from her jump before the scythe like blades are once again seeking her out. To those watching from the southern end of the corridor, there is the disconcerting perception that the blades are somehow moving even faster than before. Although the burglar manages to navigate them safely, one of them clips a lock of her hair as it passes.

11:00, Today: Safherd rolled 18 using 1d20.  Dexterity Check.

11:00, Today: Safherd rolled 17 using 1d20.  Dexterity Check.

11:02, Today: Safherd rolled 7 using 1d20.  Dexterity Check.

Having avoided the shimmering blades, Safherd moves across the the last portion of the corridor, avoiding the sections of the floor marked with the symbol for air with a gait that is slightly unsteady.

Reaching the stone room once again, she drops heavily onto the bench, opening her pack to draw out Vocos Bato’s robe to provide to Barnabus.

Barnabus smiles at Safherd to see all of her limbs still in their customary positions upon her return from the steel corridor.

"Drink up," he offers, waiting for another to make the ... actual ... offering. "Not really a puzzle in the end, was it, although you made a mighty clever use of that box top. Some kickers you have. We had gloves of dexterity once, but those walked off in the hands of our previous thief. Pity. Might have spared your tresses."

He transfers the robe and bone man to one of his own sacks and stores it within his pack for later presentation to Mazzahs.

"Now about tomorrow," he begins, before revealing that evil lurks within two more of the barrows above. He proposes a "a night on the moors beneath the stars" and then the barrows at dawn.

This time I'll prep Protection from Evil x2 for starters.

Malivoire shakily sat down on the bench beside Safherd and gently placed an arm around her shoulders. Leaning his head toward hers, he tremulously said, "You marvelous, crazy woman.  Please don't ever scare me like that again."  With a light squeeze, he stood up and let Barnabus see to her healing.

OOC:
Malivoire would be happy to help with watch through the night.

Ahh, Malivoire and Safherd are an item! I had no idea.

Solomon relaxed and sat down if there was room.

Barnabus nudges Mal, "Brother, my cup is empty. Spare her a pot, would you? I'll make it good when we get back go Helix. My bud Stidz'll hook you up."

Safherd grins at Malivoire’s comment. ”I can’t promise I won’t scare you again, but I won’t ever do so unnecessarily.”

”I will be alright,” she says quietly in response to the suggestion of a potion, ”When we return to Helix, either Brother Othar or Cella can help me with any lingering injuries I have.”

She blinks, mildly surprised by how quickly Barnabus collected the items she removed from her backpack.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:01, Wed 17 Apr.

”If we are to remain in the Barrowmoor, we will set a watch to ensure that all in the camp remain safe. The dead are prone to wander the marshes at night,” Windroot says.

The hirelings gather in a small circle, discussing the shifts for the watch, and the necessity of keeping the campfire alight. Nohvi, Ocai, and Ynes set out to collect some additional firewood.

"Perhaps it would be wise to stay in the barrow here for the night? Perhaps not, I don't know. You said you detected great evil in here Barnabus, what is, or what was, that evil?" Solomon asked.

"Don't be foolhardy," Malivoire gently chastised Safherd, after Barnabus asked for his help.  "You've already taken on too much risk this day." With that the mage pulled forth a vial from the pouch on his belt and handed it over to their acrobatic burglar, then watched like a mother hen to see that she drank it down.

OOC:
-1 potion of healing from my inventory.

With an air of lingering menace, Barnabus agrees with Solomon, "Yes, you should sleep within the barrow wight's box; you'll be safer there."

Barrows B and E on the Game Map for Group Zero both test positive for evil, with B testing doubly positive or something along those lines (but not as radiant as Batos's). However, these readings are only so reliable. I figure we'll start with B.

"Watch your tone priest, your arrogance and pride are showing!" Solomon shoots back with a hard look. "I simply asked a question waiting for an answer. Is there a safe barrow to shelter in? You checked for evil. Are there any that didn't show evil, besides the last one?"

"I'll take a watch when it's dark, Windroot."
"Mal is right. You need to be healthy if we're spending the night in this hellspawned moor. I'm not keen on it. I worry that Bato might come back for his belongings."
Dax looks at Solomon with a look of astonishment. "Are you mad? The dead may walk the moors at night, but they sleep in the barrows!" Shaking his head, the ranger walks out the camp to to gather firewood.

"Sorry Safherd, I ran a little short on healing incantations, after Pastor Barnabus kept all of his own for himself."  Across the distance, she gave the Impuraxian a wink, to let him know she was jesting, knowing that he had gotten pretty badly mauled and genuinely required it.  She also didn't doubt that their scout, as she had said, would be well tended to in Helix.

As for the other mild bickering and verbal sparring, she didn't care to pay it attention or get involved.

Understanding Dax's intent, she went out to assist him with it.

Safherd smiles and chuckles softly. ”I know you acted to help those who had already been wounded. You did the right thing, Nineve.” Looking to the mage, she says, ”I am truly grateful for your kindness, Malivoire.”

19:40, Today: Safherd rolled 7 using 1d6+1.  Healing Potion.

Although widely scattered, there are sufficient trees and brush to supply an adequate amount of firewood. As dusk begins to stretch across the Barrowmoor, the fire is started, its wavering light a lonely beacon amidst the vast darkness which quickly surrounds it.