l'Atreq considers what Aremis said and then answers, "Probably, but what if this turns out to be our only way out?"

"No obvious door. No guards, just a trap. So not enough to place guards or else trap was set and the area abandoned."

Orum shrugged, "Just thinking out loud."

Vaask contemplates the party's circumstances and carefully considers what the others have said.

"l'Atreq's words seem wise."

He offers nothing further.

“Agreed.  But if we need to escape out this way, the lead runner just needs to knock over the crossbow or trigger it toward the door before we go past.  I’d feel safer knowing it’s protecting our rear.  Plus, perhaps having the crossbow still loaded will fool any inhabitants or guards checking back this way that no one has come in (assuming they don’t bother getting close once they see the crossbow still set or are not smart enough to notice all the tracks in the dust - but the dust and tracks are easy to smooth back over behind us).

But I don’t feel strongly about it, if the party is concerned about leaving a loaded crossbow behind.”

l'Atreq nods, "Fair enough.  I don't know how long the hobgoblin was dead.  He seems pretty far gone and his body has been looted and yet scavengers have only just got wind of him,  Let's move him outside and see whether the crossbow resets.  Or we could move him inside and the door could be secret again, at least from the outside."

“All good points.  Was hoping we could discard the hobgoblin body far enough away from the door (to the ground or to a different level and side of the pyramid) to keep our entry door secret from view on the outside, allow carrion to finish off the carcass, and not stink up this top room/hall - which we might need to return to at some point for rest.”

One of you musters the resolve to pitch the hobgoblin's corpse down the steps of the pyramid. It doesn't topple very far, landing with an unheard squelch and then starting to slide a bit at the third tier before coming to a stop altogether.

After Vixl enters the pyramid, the last to do so, the stone slab behind her slams shut but, the party finds, the crossbow does not reload itself.

At the end of the 30' passageway it turns north and runs for another 20', ending at a stone door.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:54, Sat 18 June 2022.

Feeling the weight of many gazes Orum moves forward to listen and scrutinize and so forth. Any thoughts are kept internal.

OOC roll listen and find traps pleeze!

Vaask stares at the exit door as it slams shut and wonders whether it can even be re-opened from the inside. But he keeps this thought to himself.

In reply to The Lord of Divine Words (msg # 33):

Aremis ponders the prints on the floor.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:40, Sun 19 June 2022.

With Orum signaling ascent, you file into the room at the top the pyramid, with its stone slab door slamming shut after the last of you have done so.

The highest tier of the pyramid is a single 40' square room. The room smells old and musty. The dust on the floor has been disturbed, though no special details can be made out. Three huge bronze cylinders reach from the floor to the ceiling in the middle of the room. In the center of each cylinder, facing you at floor level, is a bronze door. Each door has a bronze handle that can be used to pull the door open.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:35, Mon 20 June 2022.

“Vaask: sorry to bother you, but can you see if that slab door that just slammed shut behind us can be reopened?  We might need to make a hasty exit from this room.

Orum: go ahead and check traps on the left or right cylinder door - just pick one - lightning or blade trap - we might need to forge ahead more quickly than we had planned.

l’Atreq: do you hear that hissing sound?”

l'Atreq nods.  "Coming from four holes at the corners of the room, There, There, There and there." he says pointing at each in turn.

Orum moves tothe right most cylinder and cautiously begins checking. Every now and then he casts a nervous glance towards the indicated hissing sounds. Could it be snakes? Gas?

Tarrahn tries to remain as vigilant as possible as the group moves slowly forward.  He has pocketed his sling for the time being and has a staff in his hand(s) now.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:50, Mon 20 June 2022.

l'Atreq brushes a small area of the floor free of dust and then kneels down pouring out a few drops of oil and then gathering the dust into a small pellet.  After repeating this three more times, this action is followed by pushing the pellets into each of the little holes, trying to block the holes with this stiffened oily putty like substance.

"Does anyone smell anything?" asks l'Atreq.  "Any ideas what kind of gas it is?"

Aremis hears gas escaping the room and begins to panic.

Responding to the question about the gas, he says: “About the gas, my best guess is that the air from this room is being pushed OUT through the 4 corners along the floor - either magically or because the room is getting smaller...

...so, if we don’t find a safe way out of here, we will either suffocate or get crushed by the ceiling, which may be coming down.  I’m not sure yet what’s happening, but that’s my best guess.

Even if we stop up the gas escape holes, that won’t stop the room from collapsing and, while it may give us air for longer, the pressure in here may increase.

We need to get the one-way slab door open - which will give us an escape route and could stop the room trap OR we need to find another way to move forward - either through one of the cylinders or another secret door out of this room.

Vaask is working on the slab door.  I can look for secret doors while Orum works on finding and removing traps on the cylinders.

Any other suggestions?  I’m just throwing out recommendations, but if anyone has a better idea of what you can or should be doing to figure out what’s going on or how to move us forward, do that.”
This message was last edited by the player at 17:12, Mon 20 June 2022.

An elven calm suddenly takes hold of Aremis and replaces the frantic look of fear and panic that momentarily overwhelmed his human emotions.  Aremis closes his eyes, takes a slow, steady breath, and then says more calmly to the party: “Sorry, folks!  And particularly to you, Lady Vixl, please forgive and ignore my last, panicked rant.

I’m just a bit on edge and may have over-reacted to what I thought was an urgent trap.  My human fight or flight emotions sometime over-whelm and over-rule my elven logic and calmness.

Everyone please take a moment to relax and think.  It appears we have some time to check things out and decide how best to proceed.

Here is what we do know: A “gas” is escaping through four corners of this room and making a hissing noise. You can hear it faintly if you are quiet.  And these three cylinders with doors appear to be lined up directly below the three statues on the roof above that we saw when we approached this pyramid.

I assumed the gas was escaping OUT of this room, but it may be escaping INTO this room.  Now I’m not sure.  Plus, we don’t know if it’s just air or something else.

Although I still think we should try to reopen and spike the slab door, if possible, and we still need to look for and disarm any traps on the cylinder doors, we appear to have more time than I originally anticipated.  The pressure and atmosphere in here does not appear to be changing rapidly enough, at the moment, to panic.

Suggestions?  Thoughts?  Actions?”
This message was last edited by the player at 01:27, Tue 21 June 2022.

Vaask checks the entry door to the room to see if it can be re-opened.

Before Aremis has time to complete his peroration (or for l'Atreq to begin his experiment), he and the rest of you start to feel light-headed and not in an alcoholic sort of way.

You are in rounds. Please limit your actions to what a character would normally be able to accomplish in a combat round.

*Operating assumption is that you take the time to listen to each other before attempting tasks. I don't think there is enough dust for that to be doable, anyhow. If there were piles of sand, maybe.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:56, Mon 20 June 2022.

"Is there any point in trying to block the holes?" asks l'Atreq.  "If so, what do we have to do it with?  I have oil and about 200 feet of twine.  Maybe I can seal the holes with that?"

"What about a torch handle or a spike?"

Aremis walks the perimeter of the room, looking for any secret or concealed door exits out of here, while also trying to confirm whether the hissing gas in the 4 corners is coming in or going out of the room, and, if it is coming in, whether it has any discernible smell.

OOC: I'll wait to see what the result of my inspection of the door is before declaring any other action. But I think I can guess the answer.

OOC I'm confused about the size of the holes.  I had imagined them to be pretty small if they allowed the gas to hiss but both l'Atreq and Aremis have examined them.