Tomb of Horrors IC (Inevitable Corpses)

Farangu

"What else could come out of this last chest? A ghost? Like one of my village elders said, I am not afraid of any ghosts."

Terios opens the chest.

streever

Mike frowns and his moustaches bristle in fear and irritation, as he steps back from the chest and the brave Minotaur.

Jam Warrior

The chest opens and a clutch of vipers burst forth! The hissing snakes quickly spread into the room but the party are ready for them. With a chop, a stab, a slice, a smash and a zap, the reptiles are quickly dispatched. Magically summoned they may be but they are only mundane creatures and easily dealt with when the skeleton and dart trap are out of the equation. Had the chest opened during the chaos of the previous fight it might have been a different matter of course.

Spoiler:

I think we can hand wave an encounter with handful of fairly wimpy minions at this point.

When all is calm again, a quick search reveals that the chest contains nothing more than few shed snake skins.

Farangu

"...Well that was disappointing. So, where to now, folks?"

Steelhawk

Derek looks around, still floating atop his Tenser's disk and spinning 360 degrees around in a full circle.

"You know, I don't even remember how we got in here."

Fondor_Yards

Ferdinand looks around, joints creaking and cracking. "Wasn't there a pathway behind the hydra picture? Let's go through there."

daniant

"Oh, yes, the Hydra. An excellent dragon-like foe," booms the enthusiastic dragonborn.

"Let us go and meet our Lady, my dear companions," he says, smacking Derek on the back and nearly knocking him off his floating disc.

Jam Warrior

Entering the crawlway you commence the slow shuffle in the darkness. This path is long a winding and takes quite a while to reach the end. The front crawler is greeted by an apparent dead end but swiftly finds some catches that can be released and open a hatch into a large and well lit room.



Chapel accoutrements fill this chamber, including great wooden pews on either side of a central mosaic path that leads toward an altar on the far side of the room, which is separated from the pews by a wooden railing. Scenes of everyday life are painted on the walls, but all the people are portrayed with rotting flesh, skeletal hands, and worm-ridden orifices. Yet depicted amidst these disturbing portraits are various symbols of readily recognized benevolent deities.

Behind the wooden railing is an opalescent blue altar, which is set before a tiered dais upon which stands a plush chair. The symbols of Pelor, Avandra, Moradin and Bahamut are engraved on the altar's front. Two large brass candelabra, each holding five white candles, stand on either side of the dais. Two large white pottery urns, each stoppered with brass, sit in each corner. A human skeleton wearing badly rusted and torn black chainmail lies dead in the southwestern portion of the room, one outstretched arm seeming to point into an orange mist-filled arch on the southern end of the west chapel wall.

A number of you notice that the wooden pews are hinged at the seat may double as chests.

Disguised as part of the painting there is a small slot, roughly the size of a coin, in the back wall of the chapel. Above the slot a small circle has been carefully scribed in the stone wall.

I invite those trained in Arcana or Religion to make a check.




14 = Map room designation, ignore this
C = Small slot in wall
S = Entrance via crawlway

daniant

"This all seems very familiar to me," muses the huge Dragonborn, stretching his back.

Spoiler:

Religion: 1d20+9 29

Oooh, Critical Religion!

Jam Warrior

Arjhan feels that a powerful arcane magic fills this area and that the magic essence is inextricably consecrated to the powers of good.

daniant

"Wow, this is a very holy and magical place," says Arjhan, snuffling in the smell of religion. "Apparently the symbols do not lie. We might want to avoid disrupting the magic." His nostrils flare, and he sneezes.

Jam Warrior

Mike has a good old poking, prodding and tapping session around the slot. The slot itself doesn't show any signs of moving and the circle above it is no more than an inscription. A dagger poked into the slot finds a downward sloping hole and from subtle crowbar tapping (thwacking) you think there might be a hollow space behind the slot but it's hard to tell. It's fairly deep if it's there. Either side of the slot Mike finds two almost imperceptible seams in the wall, running floor to ceiling and about 2 foot apart. No amount of crowbar or dagger work, subtle or otherwise, manages to get any purchase on them.

daniant

Arjhan moves over the the rusted warrior and examines him for interesting sigils or markings. He also takes a look at the orange archway.

Spoiler:

Perception: 1d20+7 22

Jam Warrior

To look at, the archway resembles the previous two you have seen. The only differences being the orange colour of the mist, and the fact that none of the gems around this one are glowing.

The body has been there for a long time and is nothing but dust and bones. It isn’t carrying anything and any gear it was wearing has rotted or rusted beyond use. It is clearly pointing to the archway, but whether the poor fellow died that way or was later arranged in such a manner is as much a mystery as to whether his pointing is a direction or a warning.

Steelhawk

Derek, yawning greatly, makes an examination of the altar and the church in general.

Arcana = 21

streever

"Let's rest as much we can," Mike says, sniffing. "I've put my fair face on the line for you sorry lot enough times for one day." He gestures to his pox-marked and homely face, before brushing at his luxurious mustaches again. "Make sure you keep in mind how many times I've had my pride inches from a possible murder trap when we're splitting up shares at the end," he says, before setting down his pack and taking off his armor.

Jam Warrior

Derek gets the same vibe as Arjhan. Big magics in the room, especially in that altar. All intrinsically powered by good.

streever

"I'm no friend to good," Mike sneers. "I much prefer coin and a good blade over honor. I've seen 'good lords' slay children as easily as they drink a flagon of ale, and I've seen a kindly farmer crush a sleeping soldiers skull and sell his armor and sword in the morning. Still, if we're to get any rest, perhaps this is the right spot."

Steelhawk

"In my experience, those of goodly bent are likely not to eat your face while you sleep. Still, we should set a watch. I'll go last." Derek says, finally snuffing out his Floating Disk for the day, and curling up on one of the pews for a well needed rest.

daniant

"Honor in life begets honor in death, my friend!" exhorts Arjhan. "And I will take the first watch."

streever

"I'll take second watch, and the gods take your honor. They'll take everything else of yours too by the time you die," he adds cynically.

daniant

"That's right, death! Wrap yourself in the warm comfort of our Lady's embrace, my friends! Sleep is but a mirror of death."

Arjhan positions himself in the corner of the room facing the coin slot so he can see the coin slot, the passageway and the archway.

Jam Warrior

Making yourselves comfy as best you can on the hard stone floor and wooden pews, you attempt to all bed down for some shuteye. The perpetual torchlight of your subterranean surroundings is playing merry heck with your perception of time, but eventually you all meet with some measure of success. When taking your turn on watch all is eerie silence. With nothing to hear but the slow breathing of your companions and nothing to watch but the swirling mists of the orange portal, these guard duties are tedious affairs, but your sense of self preservation and fear of more traps manages to suppress your urges to fiddle about with the contents of the room to pass the time.

Eventually, after an estimated 8 hours of fitful snoozing, you are all awake and ready to carry on with your explorations.

Extended rest get!

Steelhawk

First thing Derek Deepdelver does in the morning (after the usual pack bags, eat something and groom his magnificent goatee) is to enact the Tensers Floating Disk Ritual.

Arcana = 26; Todays floating disk can carry upto 1000 lbs

Quite satisfied with todays casting, Derek snaps shut his spellbook and stuff his precious pouch of residium back into his pack. Smoothing his goatee once more, Derek floats over to the altar and says, "How did this make it into the famous Tomb of Horrors again? It is, indeed, not so horrible."

Farangu

Terios wakes, with his customary snort. "Maybe we should test the safety of this portal, since the wall seems to be solid for the time being."

daniant

Arjhan is up and ready to go. He does a few prayers, picks up his axe, and then walks over to the portal.

"I will test its safety if you wish!" he says, preparing to be the first one through.

streever

Mike ignores the banter and chattering, while continuing to inspect the hole in the wall.
"Wizard. Can you summon a... hand... or something to put a coin in this hole?"

he offers Derek a small coin. "This is my contribution. I recommend no one stand near the hole when we put this in."

Steelhawk

"Very well. Stand back friends!" Derek says, standing back and taking cover behind a pew before casting Mage Hand and guiding the coin into the slot.

Jam Warrior

Taking cover behind the pews you all watch as the coin goes into the slot. You hear the faint 'clunk' of it landing somewhere not far down the slot. Then...

Nothing.

Steelhawk

"Well. That was dissapointing." Derek remarks, standing atop his floating disk once again. "Whats in the jars then?"

daniant

"Do you really feel it wise and necessary to desecrate everything in this particular tomb?" rumbles Arjhan grumpily. He's not a morning person.

streever

"..." Mike says nothing, but communicates. The tension in his head, the roar between his ears, the anticipation suddenly dissipated. "The dead man was like us. A treasure-hunter. Why is he pointing to the archway? Did it kill him, or was it the way to go? Maybe he was arranged that way, to make us think it was the way to go...."

He starts opening the pews in frustration, looking for anything of relevance, before going to lift the urn lids and peer inside.

Jam Warrior

Mike opens the rear left pew and a grin quickly spreads over his face. He is greeted with the glint of coins. Piles and piles of coins. Gold, silver and copper all intermingle in mixed heaps across the bottom of the pew-chest. Eagerly he moves to the next pew and opens it. He holds back a small woop as the same sight greets him. In fact every pew he opens is stuffed with money as he makes his way down the church. Until he comes to the front row and throws open the pew there. A horrible 'CLICK' causes the smile to drip from his face as he triggers the mechanisms within.

Both front pews pop open and a cloud of acrid gas fills the air and the party's lungs causing much hacking and coughing.

Spoiler:

Mike is caught, the rest of you have a 50/50 chance of having been standing close enough to also be engulfed.

1d2 → [1] = (1)
1d2 → [1] = (1)
1d2 → [1] = (1)
1d2 → [1] = (1)

All of you!

Attack Vs Fort:

Mike
1d20+11 → [1,11] = (12)
Miss

Terios
1d20+11 → [19,11] = (30)
Hit

Derek
1d20+11 → [17,11] = (28)
Hit

Ferdinand
1d20+11 → [16,11] = (27)
Hit

Arjhan
1d20+11 → [12,11] = (23)
Hit

Those hit take 4d8 → [1,6,1,1] = (9) poison damage (you lucky buggers!)
Mike takes 1d8 → [4] = (4) poison damage.

As you cough and splutter the gas cloud starts to spread out, though it is thinning as it does so.

You each have one round to act before the gas hanging in the air attacks again. As a standard action you can hold your breath with an endurance check.

daniant

Arjhan eyeballs Mike.

Spoiler:

Endurance: 1d20+6 21

streever

"I--cough, coughhow the hell could I--cough, cough... damn it!" Mike swears, caught by another fit of coughing.

Jam, can Mike scan for ways to disarm the trap, or? hold his Bag of Holding over his mouth and breath in that? I think Bags of Holding have atmosphere.

Jam Warrior

4th ed. BoH is short on the rules, but 3rd specifies a living creature can breath in one for 10 minutes so we'll go with that. Putting it on your head and maintaining a good seal will be a standard action.

A thievery check to scope out the trap would also be a standard action.

streever

OK, so if I put it over my mouth, I should be able to check for traps without dying on my next round?

Jam Warrior

If you get a source of air from it this round, then next round you can hold your breath for a minor rather than a standard.

streever

Sweet, I'll do that. Thanks Jam! Mike doesn't have great endurance.

Steelhawk

Derek pinches his nose and frowns at Mike, all the while drifting away from the cloud.

Standard: Endurance = 13
Move: Float Away 6 squares