[Gameplay] 7. The Search for the Forgotten Pharoah

By the time he reaches the bottom, Tabat is very glad to be done with the descent. He catches his breath quickly and stretches his shoulder muscles. "I suppose this is it. If what the curators said is true, it is best that we enter with extreme caution. Iseret, may you watch for traps? I'll be right behind you."

Your text to link here...The halfling tears herself away from gazing up into the shaft. "Sure!"

Jaware comes down last, and looks for a good place to set up.

"What's the plan? Check the doors, then open them? Wait, hold up. There's magic. It's ... it's on the door. It's evocation, battle magic. Could be a trap."

'Iseret are you able to do something about it? Or should we see if we can trigger it from a distance? Worst cam to worse she could heal the wounds caused, though she did not like that option.

Iseret considers the doors, looking them over carefully without touching them.

Iseret finds no signs of a trap on the doors.

"It looks safe to me, but if it's a magic trap, I might not be able to find it."

"Is there any way you can dispel whatever magic is present, Jaware? If not...well, there's only one way forward. I will open it, if I must - Khadi, I may need you after." Unless others come up with a different plan or Jaware can dispel the magic around the door, Tabat will move forward to cautiously open it, ready to move quickly out of the way of any danger if at all possible.

"No, that magic is beyond me. I'd suggest everyone stay well back, maybe even up the ladder, unless it goes wrong, and then we rush to save Iseret."

If Iseret can take 20 on her Disable Device check, she gets a 34.

Tabat looks to Iseret, "Up to you. If you want to give it a try."

You back away and give her space and Iseret carefully finds the magical triggers, and disables them. When she's done, sweaty brow and all, the door is unlocked and should be safe to open.

Beyond the well (D1), you see the tunnel come to a crossroads.

A heap of skeletons topped with a crocodile skull, sits in the intersection of the corridors. The three hallways all look to slope downwards steeply from the intersection.

"Another trap, perhaps? Already...I'm starting to not care for this library." Tabat will let Iseret take the lead on searching ahead, and when he gets close, he inspects the strange pile of bones, looking down the corridors. He nudges his weapon to the south. "All things equal, shall we start that direction?"

Khadi frowns as she sees the ones. Intentional or something else? She doesn't like leaving them there unburied, but would it anger those in charge of the libraries if they moved them, if they were meant to be here? She tries to think if there is any sort of rite or ritual involving bones placed like this.

Hard to say. They're are many explanations including that it might animate and bite your ankles.

"Well, Khadi, Iseret, is it dangerous, or do we continue searching?"

It could quite possible be a guard or deterrent of some sort. We should be wary of it animating...

"...Or just a gruesome decoration. The skull makes me think of Sobek, who was - and still is by some - worshiped for bringing floods to the river banks, which also brings life to the soil. A sort of destruction and rebirth by nature. The way the floors slope away, make me wonder if they are designed to allow water to flow away in those directions. We should be wary. We might get wet." He looks up, inspecting the ceiling for any signs of a trap door of sorts, or any source where water might come from.