Ra is gone for a while, though you can hear him flying around above you . Eventually he comes back, reporting on the area above the hole.
He tells of the wide stairway that goes down into a larger room, filled with swampy water which begins at the hole you are presently under. the water is too dark and murky to see through to the floor. Other than the door leading back into the entry room, he could see no other exits. Other than that, he did not notice anything unusual about the room.
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Sharna naturally relays all this to her companions, her brows slightly knit.
"Ra sees no exits from that room, save for the door that returns to the room by which we first entered the complex. It is possible the exits are buried under the water, but... It seems it might be something of a dead end. Well: shall we go up, and try to ascertain if there are other passages that he could not find?"
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"I can achieve the stairwell easily, carrying a rope, if someone has one at hand," Sharna offers. "I shall secure it there and others can ascend."
As the Thuvian woman floats eerily upward in a straight line into the room beyond, the light of her flickering ioun stone casting strange patterns on the stone, Ra returns to her shoulder and together they look for a secure grapple hook position.
Sharna floats back up through the hole easily enough with the rope of climbing and is able to attach the grappling hook to the partially opened door leading back to the entry hall. As she approaches, she notices that it is held open with a statue similar to those found in the eastern statue room from before.
with the rope now anchored, it is a simple matter for the rest of the group to climb up. The hole opens up into a 10' wide stairway descending about 20' before vanishing into swampy water. 10' from the top of the stairs, a 10' wide hold gapes, water trickling over its edge and falling in the the darkness you just left.
The stairway descends into stagnant, murky water. The north wall features two fifteen-foot-tall mosaics of the Dog Pharaoh flanking a series of smaller hieroglyphs arranged in rows and columns. The east and west walls give glimpses of the top half of faded and water-stained frescos depicting pleasure slaves and vast wealth in a desert oasis paradise.
Barely visible from here are a series of Ancient Osiriani hieroglyphs on the north wall of the chamber, between the two images of the Dog Pharaoh. For right now, they're much too faded and far away to properly translate.
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Natalia starts looking around the room, casting (as always) Detect Magic .
"I assume there is a way north, opposite the stairway. However, we should be very careful, since the location of that door is likely also the location of one of the traps (basing this on measurements from above).
"I think we should try and trigger the traps... and drain the water out of this room. Rodrigo, how about we tie a rope around your waist, and I can hold it while you poke forward. Of course, others can help with holding the rope, but I'll probably use my Enlarge Person spell, so that I have more mass to anchor the rope. I'll give you the Blessing of Aroden , and you try and find the trap doors where we expect them to be, and then trigger them. This should drain the water out, as it did in the entry way, when you so cleverly found the first trap door.
"Does this all sound like a plan?"
Standing waist deep in the murky water, Lady Natalia and Rodrigo prepare to go Rodrigo fishing. Meanwhile, the others continue to climb up the rope behind them. Nobody is able to pick up anything magical or otherwise out of the ordinary, whatever passes for ordinary in an ancient flooded desert tomb in the middle of a swamp stored in a demiplane created by a powerful sorceress not seen in several centuries.
Everyone just stands around looking awkwardly at Rodrigo, wondering what his next move will be. Will he call it quits after making it this far? Will he take a dive into the murky waters to save his own party? Will he continue to profess his undying love and admiration for the Lady Natalia, perhaps envisioning a better future for the both of them? Will Shandor just chuck him into the water filled room?
Everyone waits with bated breath to see what happens next.
Rodrigo, pledging himself to protect Lady Natalia from further harm, dives into the icy cold, murky, stagnant water, taking his time to swim towards the trap 20 to 30 feet in front of him.
Due to the conditions of the room, really nobody is surprised when the mass of wriggling black creatures, each the size of a man's finger, start to stir the stagnant water before beginning to envelope Rodrigo, now 15' out in the water. Except for Sharna, who seemed to be daydreaming about something before Ra startles her from her reverie.
Group 1
Shandor
Al Suresh [41/45 HP]
Sharna [Ra 20/21 HP]
Zaquielle [35/40 HP]
Rodrigo [43/46 HP]
Critters
Mass of Wriggling Creatures
Group 2
The still blushing Natalia is slow to move [40/43 HP]
No only are they poisonous when they swarm their target, but once attached they begin to drain the blood of any living creatures starting in their space. They are able to see very well even without sensory organs, and possess immunities to mind-affect effects and weapon damage due to their diminutive size. They are, however, susceptible to salt. Otherwise, they possess many of the same traits as other swarms.
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Sharna frowns as she stares at the swarm, trying to remember details of these particular vermin-- Ra helpfully chimes in, in his bird-speak, reminding her of that time he ate something similar and got really sick?
"A thousand curses-- these little leeches are poisonous, and drain the blood! Rodrigo, pull back onto the stairs-- I can do little about them while you are in the water!"
As her ability to deny gravity is still active, Sharna floats above ground, using the walls of the tunnel to push herself forward. She comes to a stop above Natalia's head.
"Everyone, pull back if you may-- when the leeches emerge from the water in pursuit, I shall send a wide spray of fire at them-- Shandor may have similar spells of use!"
Sharna floats into the air above the group, shouting invective's and warnings. She then fans her hands together and mutters arcane words at the same time Zaquielle mutters about salt, retrieving a scroll from her backpack. Rodrigo beats a hasty retreat from the danger in the water and gets back to dry land, as such as it is, before drawing a flask of a thick dark liquid from his backpack. In the far back, Shandor performs the same arcane rituals as Sharna, placing his hands ahead of him in a fan shape and muttering arcane words furiously.
Al Suresh, meanwhile, finds some comfort in the dark tunnels below, perhaps biding his time to truly shine.
As the group prepares for their advance, the leech swarm quickly swims through the water towards them.
Waves of flame jet forth from Sharna's hands, cascading over the wriggling bodies as they fight for control on the dry ground, but they keep coming. Having swam so quickly through the water, it is a wonder they seem so sluggish on land. But it doesn't take them long to swarm over both Rodrigo and Natalia.
Both are engulfed by the swarm, but it doesn't seem to faze them in the slightest, Natalia's antitoxin and Rodrigo's luck against poisons saving them both. As the swarm finds it's victims, Shandor sends sheets of flame into both Rodrigo and the swarm, hoping to finish this battle quickly.
The flames seem to burn away most of the leeches, and Rodrigo does an amazing series of flips, rolls, and splashing about in the water to avoid the flames.
Party
Al Suresh [41/45 HP]
Natalia [35/43 HP]
Shandor
Sharna [Ra 20/21 HP]
Zaquielle [35/40 HP]
Rodrigo [33/46 HP]
Critters
Leech Swarm [7/39 HP]
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From her position in mid-air, casually ignoring the laws of physics, Sharna surveys the charred mass of leeches-- still active after the magical fire wielded by both her and Shandor.
She has one other spell that might be of use, but... under the circumstances, it seems something like overkill. Instead she draws a vial of bottled flame from her pack and drops it down into the writhing leeches before Natalia's feet.
Ra shrieks on her shoulder and says something to his mistress, to which she responds, "No, you will get terribly sick again! Don't even think about it."
Sharna and Natalia both toss alchemist's fires at the swarm, but only Natalia's manages to fully engulf the swarm, creating a nice cozy fire next to her, but catching herself and Rodrigo in the blast, as well. Sharna's skips off to the side and bursts in a shower of flame, killing many leeches in the process.
Group 1
Al Suresh [41/45 HP]
Shandor
Zaquielle [35/40 HP]
Rodrigo [32/46 HP]
Critters
Leech Swarm [2/39 HP]
Group 2
Natalia [34/43 HP]
Sharna [Ra 20/21 HP]
Rodrigo and Shandor both toss their vials at the swarm, hitting it directly and causing many of the leeches to shrivel up under the heat, and covering Rodrigo and Natalia with droplets of the burning liquid as well. The rest of the swarm disperses into the water, seeking refuge from the flames.
Party
Al Suresh [41/45 HP]
Natalia [32/43 HP]
Rodrigo [30/46 HP]
Shandor
Sharna [Ra 20/21 HP]
Zaquielle [35/40 HP]
In less than a minute, the group destroys the swarm, at least for now. But bloody and burnt, they now face the stagnant waters in the dark.
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"First things first... let's get healed up."
Natalia takes out here CLW wand, and starts healing herself.
"Now that feels much better. Who else needs healing?"
After Natalia helps people out by using cure sticks on them, she'll say, "Well, let's try that again. Rodrigo, you ready to go spring those trap doors?"
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Zaquielle takes out her scroll, "Did anyone suffer poisoning from those things, I have magic here which might help." she says curling up her lip in disgust. "Rodrigo, if you can trigger the trap it will hopefully make all this muck and water disappear." She removes her wand, using it on herself.
HPs: 40
Flight Arrows used so far: 4
CLWs from own wand: 2
Group CLWs: 20
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Sharna remains floating (because why not?) and gives Rodrigo an encouraging nod.
"Yes, if you can do that, perhaps the water will drain enough to let us view the hieroglyphs," she says, and tries to calm the restless Ra while Rodrigo mucks with the tiles. The rope around his waist should prevent him from hurtling to a spiky descent, she thinks.
Rodrigo dives underwater and is able to successfully trigger the trap with relative safety. As the trap is triggered, the floor tiles fall away, revealing for a moment the spikes down below that Rodrigo is all too well familiar with. Only for a moment, though, as thousands of gallons of stagnant water come crashing down the newly opened hole, carrying Rodrigo with it.
Rodrigo starts trying to swim against the current, but can't beat the inevitable fate of being swept back into the hole.
Lady Natalia tries to prevent his fall, but the rope just continue to slide through her grasp, the pull of the water proving to be too much.
Once again, Rodrigo plunges down to the spikes in the bottom hallway. This time, however, he seems more prepared and is able to avoid the spikes entirely, twisting around them like a cat. Unlike a cat, however, he doesn't land on his feet so much as the top half of his back. Al Suresh, still present in the lower hallway for some reason, finds the corridor filled with four feet of water as the room above drains too quickly for the grates to compensate. After that, the flood is reduced to a slow drip, however, and the water level in the corridor subsides as the water drains through the grates.
Now with the water drained, the group is able to examine the room more closely. Frescoes are now exposed on the east and west walls, and the faint outline of a 10' tall doorway in the center of the northern wall is now exposed, as well.
The entire group is now able to see the series of hieroglyphs on the north wall of chamber between the two images of the Dog Pharaoh now, carved in a spot that was just above the previous waterline.
The other hieroglyphs revealed by the receding waters seem much more complex.
The other glyphs are not symbols what were used in Ancient Osiriani or are currently in use in the modern Osiriani tongue, however. More study will likely be needed to decipher them.
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"Tis a puzzle, made of mathmatical symbols, see the hand on its side, it means addition. The hand standing up, I think is subtraction. The catapult is multiplication and the two ropes show division. The scales I believe to be an equals sign. As for the other things I cannot say, or even see the sense of the two walls. Hmmm..."