#6 The Next Evening, Underground Building Part 2

Alfbern cast his protection from evil on himself before his watch and in the morning memorized read magic from the loosely bound sheaf of papers that was his spellbook.

The dwarven battlerager slept the deep unburdened sleep of simple folk. He did not seem at all disturbed by the fact that he had worn a spider twice his size as a hat only hours before. His snores were so loud, at one point during watch Bit leaped up, wary of another worm attack.

Before Saskia returned to the surface, she had a few rituals to perform. A pair of rites, designed to reveal hidden dangers. Dangers much like the sand trap they walked right into a couple hours ago. She used the magic to scan the length and breadth of the chamber.

When that work was complete, she tied the rope around herself and had Alfbern haul her out. She wasn't strong enough to climb up herself, but she did use the wall to help make things easier on her brother. Up under the burning sun, she had a few more items on her agenda. She had magic incantations, ancient elven secrets from her mother's spellbook, that should help her to decipher the writing on the statue.

The camels also needed to be seen to. She would use a ritual to create more water for them, and refill the party's skins. Once they'd drunk their fill, she spoke to them, explaining that they would likely be remaining in this spot for a while and to make themselves comfortable.

The last spell she cast before retiring into the tent Alfbern had prepared was a magical alarm that would sound if anything came out of or went into the hole into the chamber below them.


((Cast Detect Snares & Pits, Find Traps, Comprehend Languages and Read Magic (if needed), Create Water, Speak With Animals and Alarm.  Changed some of my memorized spells for the next day.))

Saskia let loose her magicks & prayers below and detected nothing out of the ordinary, no traps, snares or pits (other than the entrance, of course!) and the double bronze doors held no trap as far as she could fathom.

Upon scaling the wall with the help of her brother, she needed a bit of help balancing to get the proper angle in which reading the stone book was possible. It simply stated in archaic text...

My name is Maniozimus, look upon the ruins of the great city that surrounds you and despair. Great magic once was, life and vitality, now you only see the mighty ruins of men's works.

The camels seemed to have settled since the worm attack of the previous evening. In fact, no signs of life other than their party could be seen in any direction from their camp. Baal had shown those taking day watches how to wrap linen about their mouths and noses to lessen the annoyance of sand and dust. It also helped to keep them slightly cooler in the wicked heat.

As night fell, it was clear that decisions would need to be made concerning who would explore the ruins and who if anyone would remain topside. Saskia was fairly certain that the mounts would hold their place if the entire party decided to venture below.

[Still need spells from Osric/Tristan. If not picked prior to the party continuing on, I will choose.]

With that being a logical answer to the question of leaving camp, the entire party descended into the well lit main chamber. The splattered carcasses of the huge furry spiders lay curled up in the middle of the chamber among the columns. As the party slid down the rest of the sand and regrouped, they approached the double stained bronze doors that stood closed before them.

[Think the area similar to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where the hidden temple/building is in a canyon, but here is instead underground under a giant crumbling dome.]

((Was it possible to leave the camels tethered to some of the ruins? Could Am the Goat descend the slope safely into the underground building?))

With a sidelong glance at Saskia, Lucky crept up to the door and carefully leaned towards the cool metal doors. Screwing up his face he listened carefully for any sounds of movement, men or monsters beyond.

[Detect Noise]