"A Time to Die" Bravo IC

[OMG PONIES]

The four of you each have various reasons for exploring such a horrid place as the one before you, but you have united under a common cause. As you each gathered information about Acerak's supposed "Tomb of Horrors," it was very clear that you would need assistance if you wished to do anything but die. There's not a flickering candle among the group; you're all of above-average intelligence and each carries a measure of wisdom that only a deep reservoir of experiences can bring. Over a round of drinks, you had all bonded and decided that your best shot at not dying would be to stick together. Even if you did die, everyone agreed it would be a hell of a way to go out. Thus, our group formed and set out to the spot designated on their maps but admonished against by every local they met: Skull Hill.

A low, flat-topped hill, about 200 yards wide and 300 yards long, protrudes from the earth. Ugly weeds, thorns, and briars grow upon the steep sides and bald top of the 60-foot-high mound. Black rocks crown the hilltop. The northside of the hill is fronted by a 20-foot-high crumbling cliff of sand and gravel. A low stone ledge overhangs this eroded area, and shrubs and bushes obscure it from observation at a distance. It will take a lot of searching to even find the entrance...

The resemblance of the hill and black rocks upon it to a great human skull becomes apparent, with the piles of rock appearing as eye holes, nose hole, and the jagged teeth of a grinning death’s head.


[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[remetagross]

Bando squints, as he thinks he distinguishes some features out of the grim outcropping of rocks. He whispers to himself:
"Hum, OK, seems like the hill is roughly shaped like a skull...there's no obvious entrance...now, if I were some megalomaniac lich person, I'd put the entrance in the most daunting place, say, some hidden tunnel in the mouth..."

He then remembers he's not alone on this one, contrary to his habit. He eyes the rest of the team. Gidon...Arixim...how is the last one named already? Ah yes, Benedict.

"Alright, have you seen that skull shape out there? I bet the entrance's right down the mouth. Up to check? Now let's see if some others have come across here too, that might provide a hint about where to go. Let's see if that validate that theory..." He falls back into self mumbling as he finishes the sentence.

If the others agree, Bando starts cautiously advancing towards the hill, keeping his eyes up, and crossbow at the ready. He crouches here and there and tries to find a trail of creatures going towards the tomb.

Taking 20: Survival check 29.

[Erelamar]

"Well... I was expecting something... more...?"

Regarding the halfling, "Apposite thinking, Master Galbas. I never doubted your character. Proceed, but..." turning to look, the paladin called, "BENEDICT! Oh, there you are. Please, aid Master Galbas by examining the hill's slope as we move about it. Arixim and I shall follow at a distance, just in case. For all we know there may be as many foul creatures wandering around this vile place as inside it."

To pass the time, Gidon mentions to the hulking dragonborn, "Soon, we will need to set up a base camp from which to foray into the tomb. Tell me, how much do you know about palisades?"

[OMG PONIES]

As the party scales the hill, they notice the dark rocks formed to resemble a skull, but not much more besides bushes and brambles. Perhaps they need to search the base of the hill more closely...

[remetagross]

"Sure", answers the halfling to Gidon without stopping to sniff out for tracks. After a short while, with the two more physically imposing members of the team babbling in the background, Bando stops. He scratches his head quizzically, then comes back on his initial tracks. Looking up:
"That's strange, there doesn't seem to be any tracks around here...like no one has ever come that way before...or maybe the way in doesn't require to come all the way up there..."

Still half-muttering to himself, Bando switches tactics. He circles around the rocks littering the base of the hill, looking for some other path or entrance into the Tomb.



Taking 20 on Search check: 37

[OMG PONIES]

Bando locates an entrance buried deep in the brush--long covered over by time and nature. The whole party could probably clear the entire entrance with about 90 minutes of work, or two of them could clear clear a narrow crawl space enough to squeeze through single-file in about fifteen minutes.

[roll0]

[Xhosant]

Benedict was weak of muscle. But Eli must have made it through here, and that meant he could, and would, too. He gets to work.

"Best to clear the path thoroughly. I don't want to retreat through a burrow, if the need arises."

[BelGareth]

Arixim, with his aura sense up, follows Bando at a good distance, once the entrance was found, he helps to clear it up.

"Shall we delve this evening, or wait tomorrow morning? I'm not sure it makes much of a difference."


Senses (+2 to spot, listen, initiative)

[Erelamar]

"I agree, Benedict. We should clear away the entire entrance. As to Arixim's point, though I do not wish to curb my zeal, it would be wiser to enter in the morning when we are full and well-rested. Perhaps even a breif scouting of the surrounding environs may be useful."

Sir Gidon, hands on his hips, considers the grim and gray landscape about the crumbling mound. There is a strange excitement to his expression.

"After all, it's not going anywhere."

[OMG PONIES]

The entire group spends the next hour and a half clearing the entrance they have found fully. During that time, nothing startles them. They get the feeling that resting or going immediately in does not make much difference, as nothing is stirring around these parts.

As they clear the entrance of brush and sand, they see a nondescript entrance hall. Two separate doors are dimly visible at the end of this roughly worked, plain stone corridor.

https://i.imgur.com/rggAd2k.jpg

[BelGareth]

"Two doors" Irixim looks to the others "Which one do we take?"

[Xhosant]

Benedict hesitates. The rumour of traps precedes this place.

"Let us assume we take the left door. Give me a minute..."

With that, he begins casting a spell, seeking divine affirmation.

Casting Augury on the decision to take the left door.

[BelGareth]

The dragonborn nods. "Left is fine with me, we should make sure neither is trapped, no need to hurry."

[remetagross]

Bando is about to set to work on the hallway, but he stops when the Paladin dude starts to cast a divine spell. He quizzically waits for the answer of the divination, while slowly unpacking his various tools for trap detection.
"Huh. That sure could save us some time...."

Whatever the outcome of the spell, Bando thoroughly and patiently checks the hallway for any nasty surprise that could be waiting there.

Taking 20 on Search checks, with the masterwork tools at hand: 37

[Xhosant]

((Ponies?))

[OMG PONIES]

Benedict hesitates. The rumour of traps precedes this place.

"Let us assume we take the left door. Give me a minute..."

With that, he begins casting a spell, seeking divine affirmation.

Casting Augury on the decision to take the left door.

Benedict spends the next minute burning incense and beseeching St. Cuthbert to reveal his will regarding what the future holds. The incense burns with an uncharacteristically sour odor, letting Benedict know that his chosen course of action would most likely bring woe. One thing was clear; no matter what the next 30 minutes held, beyond that was naught but woe.


Bando is about to set to work on the hallway, but he stops when the Paladin dude starts to cast a divine spell. He quizzically waits for the answer of the divination, while slowly unpacking his various tools for trap detection.
"Huh. That sure could save us some time...."

Whatever the outcome of the spell, Bando thoroughly and patiently checks the hallway for any nasty surprise that could be waiting there.

Taking 20 on Search checks, with the masterwork tools at hand: 37
Longspoon thieves tools. Flour pouches. A hand mirror. A ten-foot pole. A collapsing eleven-foot pole. A periscope. Somehow, Bando managed to fit just about every bit of dungeoneering gear compactly into his pack. It's a good thing, too, since every tool has a purpose. In this case, he notices that about 10 feet before both doors, there's a trigger mechanism that runs the width of the floor. This mechanism seems to be tied to a stripe of loose stone in one wall and runs all the way up to the ceiling.

[roll0]

[Erelamar]

"Well, if Saint Cuthbert says 'don't go left, we don't go left.' " The paladin is speaking softly, for once.

Sir Gidon turns back to rest against the lip of the entrance, hunkered behind his shield, studying Bando sprinkling flour and poking and proding with collapsible poles. He thinks better than to shout down a warning to the halfling.

Instead over his shoulder, he says to the rest of his companions, "When Bando gives the sign we'll advance upon the righthand door together. Just in case, whatever foulness lurks behind the left is stirred by the right's opening."

[Xhosant]

Benedict nods at Sir Gidon, and watches Bando at work. He came here willing to die, not to knowingly march into a trap.

[remetagross]

"Ha!", Bando snorts.
"What kind of moron still uses traps that obvious..." Not losing sight of the trapped location, Bando sets out to disrupt the trap he has detected.
"Don't move forward guys, I've got this handled."


Taking 10 on Disable Device for 27.

If everything goes well and the trap is successfully disabled, Bando precautiously crosses the trapped line, and stops again at once.
"Don't move yet! There might be another one right behind, to catch those whodon't pay attention anymore because they've disabled the first one." Smirking, Bando then retrieves his searching devices and works at scanning the rest of the room past the line.


Taking 10 on Search for 27. In case another trap is found, then taking 10 on Disable Device for 27. Bando repeats this until he doesn't find any more traps.

Bando packs his stuff again and prepares his crossbow.
Alright, now let's get to that right door you divined, Benedict.

[Xhosant]

"Didn't you just say not to believe there's no traps because one is down?" Benedict says. "I know the left door is not something we want to get close to,but that doesn't make the right door safe."

[OMG PONIES]

Surely enough, Bando's paranoia pays off...he finds another trap that seems to connect the first one with the ceiling of the tunnel just before the doors. He deftly disables both traps by breaking off a stick to jam the seam in the wall, and the party is able to safely approach both doors. But which one will they open?

[Xhosant]

Benedict goes for the door to the right, seeing as he's been warned against the left.

[OMG PONIES]

Behind the right door he finds...
...naught but unworked stone. This door seems to be a decoy.

[Erelamar]

"If we are satisfied the wall is indeed a... wall, and we must go through the left door, I will open it." Gidon will do so slowly, peering over his shield into whatever lies beyond.

[OMG PONIES]

Behind the left door he finds...
...naught but unworked stone. This door seems to be a decoy.

[Xhosant]

"Well,this is interesting. What do we do? Start digging along the cliff for more?"

[remetagross]

"...Crap. OK, seems like a cursory search didn't do the trick...Let's wait a minute Benedict, we'll try this again."

Slightly annoyed, Bando unpacks all his search gear again. This time, he looks for secret passages everywhere around them: in the floor, the walls, the apparent bag-ends behind the doors, the doorframes and the doors themselves, the tunnel through which they came...He ausculpts, squints, pings off the walls with a tap of his tools to listen to the sound produced...


Taking 20 on Search check: 37.

[OMG PONIES]

+450 XP for each member of Bravo team!

After scouring Skull Hill, Bando discovers a loose patch of bushes that is covering over an opening. With a little effort, the group clears the opening easily. As they clear away the rubble from the entrance, brilliant colors are everywhere; pigments painted on stone are undimmed by the passage of decades. The floor is a colorful mosaic, featuring a distinct, winding path of red tiles forming a 2-foot-wide, meandering trail south down the corridor. A few chips and gaps reveal that cement or plaster covers the underlying stonework of the corridor, and it mostly provides a smooth surface for the many illustrated scenes.

The many images painted on the walls depict fields with cattle grazing, a copse with several wolves in the background , slaves—human, orc, elven, and strange human/animal mixtures of pig-human, ape-human, and dog-human—going about various tasks. Certain frescoes are more focused and show rooms of some building—a library filled with many books and scrolls, a torture chamber, and a wizard’s work room. Chairs, windows, boxes, bales, doors, chests, birds, bats, spiders, and all manner of things appear on the walls.

The floor mosaic hides barely noticeable runes: a message in Common. It says the following: "ACERERAK CONGRATULATES YOU ON YOUR POWERS OF OBSERVATION. SO MAKE OF THIS WHATEVER YOU WISH, FOR YOU WILL BE MINE IN THE END NO MATTER WHAT!
Go back to the tormentor or through the arch,
and the second great hall you’ll discover.
Shun green if you can, but night’s good color
is for those of great valor.
If shades of red stand for blood the wise
will not need sacrifice aught but a loop of
magical metal—you’re well along your march.
Two pits along the way will be found to lead
to a fortuitous fall, so check the wall.
These keys and those are most important of all, and beware of trembling hands and what will maul.
If you find the false you find the true
and into the columned hall you’ll come,
and there the throne that’s key and keyed.
The iron men of visage grim do more than
meets the viewer’s eye.
You’ve left and left and found my Tomb
and now your soul will die."

https://i1.wp.com/critical-hits.com//wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ToHGraphic3.jpg

[roll0]

[Xhosant]

Benedict points out the message for all to see. He then pulls out his 10-foot pole and starts poking at the ground - the mention of fortuitus falls telling him there's pits ahead. He tries to see if the winding path is of any significance.

[remetagross]

"Aaah, that's more what I like. No empty room nonsense." Pleased with himself, Bando cracks his knuckles. He is in the process of mentally deciphering the inscription hidden in the floor when Benedicts, faster than him, breaks out the news. That catches him unaware. He turns to his fellow Rogue.
"...Congrats dude, you've got keen eyes too. Now, anyone got some paper or something, so that we can write that stuff down? I'll bet it's either a false hint that leads to a trap, or some stuff we'll need to remember six hours from now and no one'll be able to recall it."


While the others react, Bando waits for Benedict to probe the ground before them. In the meantime, he carefully examines the Walls around him, looking for some lever hidden in a statue's eye, or some hollow panel. The savvy Halfling does not walk further than Benedict while doing so.



Taking 10 on Search check, 27