E1: Tomb of Chaos [Judge: Patlin] [Concluded]

[SlagMortar]

Placing a sleeve over his mouth and nose, Nars enters the room, still keeping to the shadows. He slowly advances around the left side of the room, keeping close to the wall. When he is across from the north hallway, he peers down its length to see what can be seen. If he sees nothing important, he continues to 10 feet from the altar to make sure nothing harmful remains, and to check for more pieces of the needed keys.

OOC: The bodies appear to have been dead for longer than we have been in the tomb, yes?

 

[Erekose13]

Nars checks out the room, leary of more gnolls coming from the North. From what he can see while directly across from the side hallway there is another door on the left hand side maybe 10-15' in and it ends another 15-20' later with another door. He thinks both doors look open, but from this distance he can't be too sure.

Quietly Nars heads over to the altar. Beyond gory mess and signs of definite sacrifice there is little that he can see that might be important. Stiffling a gag, the dwarf checks the altar more thuroughly. There were indeed four bodies, human most likely. It does not look like there is anything else of interest. There are no hidden compartments or gear of any kind.

And no, the bodies look like they have been sacrificed within the last 24 hours, quite possibly during the time that the party was in the tomb.

 

[SlagMortar]

Nars quietly relays the information. He feels bad knowing that these poor souls could have been saved. But there is no way we could have known.

 

[Manzanita]

Percy is moved by the sacrifice. She shakes her head. "These undead, locked up in their tombs, aren't causing any trouble. It is the gnolls who must be destroyed. We must do no more looting until we've completely routed the gnolls and their allies. Let's keep going."

Percy is low on spells, almost out, in fact. She keeps her loaded crossbow in one hand, her torch in the other. Fridly rest on one of her shoulders.

 

[Erekose13]

Moving to the north hallway, Nars does note that there is one door on the left that is ajar and one at the far end of the hallway also open.

 

[SlagMortar]

Nars moves forward and peeks in the door to the left, Felhunter in one hand and his newly found masterwork dagger in the other.

 

[Erekose13]

This wooden door is covered in plaster, perhaps to match it with the surrounding walls. It stands ajar, nearly split in in half down the middle. A latticework design outlines the door. Inside a heavy animal carcass lies on a sturdy table in the middle of this room. The north wall has two cabinets, their shelves lined with unrs, candle-holders, and other items. Charnel smells continue to assault your nose here.

The table, designed to let dripping blood flow into channels along the side, is occupied by a carcass, possibly porcine in nature, as well as tools used for embalming the dead and a dusty book with time-yellowed pages. There is a single canopic jar sitting precariously on the northwest corner, a stoneware vessel about 8 inches tall with a lid shaped like the head of a cat. A single iron torch in a raft-shaped sconce is lit in the center of the eastern wall.

 

[Manzanita]

Percy touches her finger to her lips. "Someone was just here." she whispers. "Let's keep moving. We may find him."

 

[SlagMortar]

Nars silently follows Percy's direction. He slips back out of the room and begins moving down the hallway to the unexplored door.

 

[Erekose13]

Nars moves up towards the room at the end of the corridor. The stone door to this room is covered with a full size bas-relief of a solemn looking man carrying the body of another man in his arms. It is ajar and within this dusty room seven large iron caskets lie on platforms of polished red granite. The sides of the caskets are lined with engraved panels depicting scenes of various battles and the heavy iron lids feature bas-reliefs of humanoids with the heads of various animals.

Above the caskets are small stone shelves lined with ceramic jars, most of which are broken. Their lids are made to look like the heads of various animals. The eastern wall is dominated by a large fading mural of a crocodile thrashing in the water at a river's edge. Opposite of the mural, a small alcove is set within the middle of the western wall and holds a sitting stone idol of a jackal-headed man. The statue holds in each hand a stone bowl alight with flame.