The Gaming Den

After testing the floor with the weight, the skeleton proceeds to the door bangs its bony fist against it; the door opens. The door is unlocked.

[/edit]Flintbeard examines the door. It certainly has a locking mechanism, and there are indications of some sort of weighted mechanism in the walls, but appears to have not been locked. Oddly, the hinges are on the outside, so the door swung open towards the skeleton. Still, Flintbeard detects no traps. He recalls that some religions used weighted mechanisms so that doors would open silently and apparently on their own, as if by magic.

Head in after the skeleton. Tell him to walk around touching things and then enter after him and investigate

Flintbeard gives the skeleton his 10ft pole to poke stuff with before it goes through the door. He'll stay on the other side of the door with axe and shield in hand until the skeleton is done poking around. Flintbeard sticks a metal piton into the door to prevent it from closing.

The door appears to open in the north-west corner of a chamber some fiffteen feet wide and twenty-five feet long. It seems mostly to be filled with funerary goods - statues and models of boats, chariots, slaves, and the like. There is a clearing of sorts on the south wall, like a small shrine; something has been written there in tiles of lapis lazuli, but you cannot make it out from here.

The skeleton stumbles around with the ten-foot pole.

Flintbeard makes a history check over the goods to determine their age and value and stonework on the room in general to see if it's newer or older than other parts we've been through.

Afterwards he'll have the skeleton walk up to the shrine, if nothing happens to it Flintbeard will follow up the skeleton's path to stonework/history/trap check it.

Gilles will Religion check the doors, and then follow Flintbeard. He will then Religion check the goods and then trap check and religion check the shrine (unless Flintbeard already finds traps there. If he doesn't, Gilles intends to double-check.)

Lucas follows the others, with his lantern. Since he doesn't want to dissolve in a puddle of acid, he waits for them to check the room before joining them at the shrine.

One by one, the party files into the room, the door propped open with a metal piston.

Flintbeard makes a history check over the goods to determine their age and value and stonework on the room in general to see if it's newer or older than other parts we've been through.

Afterwards he'll have the skeleton walk up to the shrine, if nothing happens to it Flintbeard will follow up the skeleton's path to stonework/history/trap check it.

This room, like the others, seems to have been modified from an older construction. What it's original purpose was you don't know, but it seems to have been converted into a storage chamber for grave goods - very typical for princes of the old dynasty, who believed they needed to bring something of their wealth with them into the afterlife (although the magic to do so properly was not discovered until centuries later).

Flintbeard discovers no traps. The plaster on the walls seems in better repair than in the other rooms, and there is less hint of mold - perhaps the door makes a better seal?

Gilles will Religion check the doors, and then follow Flintbeard. He will then Religion check the goods and then trap check and religion check the shrine (unless Flintbeard already finds traps there. If he doesn't, Gilles intends to double-check.)

Gilles finds no traps on the grave-goods. The shrine seems a simple votive affair dedicated to an ancestor spirit, although the message in lapis lazuli is atypical for the period - it appears to be a Drow dialect, very archaic, that will take a few moments to translate. Surprisingly, Gilles determines most of the grave-goods are of Elven manufacture.

Lucas follows the others, with his lantern. Since he doesn't want to dissolve in a puddle of acid, he waits for them to check the room before joining them at the shrine.

Lucas feels lonely in the corridor as the others go into the room one-by-one.

If Gilles is capable of doing so (which I imagine depends on whether or not knowing Drow is enough to be able to read this ancient dialect), he will attempt to decipher the message.

(Alright, assuming everybody goes into the room.)

After the last of your files into the room, examining the grave-goods, there is the sound of metal striking stone - and the door to the room closes with a click.

(Flintbeards piton didnt work?)

(Flintbeard is fairly certain he stuck it in well - he doesn't understand how it could have come loose on its own.)

"Alright, well....at least it's not filling with a deadly gas or anything. I'll see if I can pry it open, meanwhile see if there's any other ways out of here. Maybe there's a clue in that message or a hidden door in the walls"

Atani will see if there is any seam in the exit and if so he'll try to force the door open with brute strength. Failing that he'll help Gilles translate the message. Perhaps elven written in so ancient a time would have different hints remaining in both modern sylvan and drow.

The door has a handle and seams; it does not appear to be locked, simply closed. Atani can still see the scratch marks where Flintbeard had set the piston.

Stand back and tell the Skeleton to open it.

The skeleton walks forwards and tries the door. There is a distinct *tink* as it grabs the handle, a bit of bone hits the floor, and a rattle as the door refuses to open.

Is the skeleton's hand still intact?

It mostly is, but it appears to be missing a small piece of bone in its hand.

First, prod the door with the 10' pole to see if the trap is spent. Then search for hidden exits, sliding panels etc. EDIT: and stonework traps. Start with the door, then the room.

You prod the door with the pole. When you touch the handle, a small needle springs out, then withdraws.

Searching the room, you find no hidden doors.

Flintbeard draws upon his knowledge of stonework, traps, and history to figure the explanation for this kind of trap (how did it know to close after we all waled through, was it pressure plates or what) and maybe get a clue as to what civilization built it.

Flintbeard takes a look through the gave goods to see if anything looks good as a weapon.

Flintbeard can find no trace of a pressure plate - he can only presume that the door was designed to close, lock, and trap to arm automatically, based on the weight-mechanisms he noted earlier. A clever trap, which only closes when the prey is inside the room...but the piston should have kept the door from closing.

Flintbeard can find no weapons amid the grave-goods.

Shout to see if Lucas can still hear us out in the hall. Instruct the Skeleton how to open and turn the handle in a way that doesn't put it's hand in line with the needle's exit.

If that doesn't work smash the thing with the ball and chain.

(It is presumed that everyone in the party is in the room.)

The skeleton tries the door-handle again, but it remains locked.

(Got it. Alright just before I get to the smashing, can we figure out the lapis lazuli writing?)