ROOM 1: The Vault of Chicomoztoc

[angle]

Breathing heavily, you all find that the world has stopped tumbling, and you now sprawl on cold, damp stone interspersed with clods of softer soil.

The coughing and wheezing of your companions can be heard nearby, hidden in the darkness - save to the half-breed.

Cair gingerly unfolds his head from beneath his arms, spitting the taste of earth out of his mouth. His elven eyes sweeps over the warm red forms of his companions laid out on the stone floor of a chamber of some sort, with regular walls and level floors. He and his companions appear to be alone. A domed piece of stone thrusts out of the floor in the center of the chamber.

Myhrra and Rhialle see nothing of the sort. All is blackness, with the roar of the collapsing stone having given way to the clatter of rocks, the rattle of settling pebbles, and the soft shushing of dirt settling into place. Rhialle moves gracefully to a crouch. The air seems stale and fermented to his nose- quite unlike the air of his familiar jungle home.

It is dark, and as you shift, certain items in each of your possession tinkle and crunch ominously.

[AxeMental]

Rhialle searches for his flint and steal and attempts to light a torch.

[The Master]

Cair will light his lantern, so his companions can see. Then he will attempt to identify what items are crunching

[angle]

Rhialle pats for the familiar form of his tinderbox, only to feel useless fragments. A doubt begins to grow in the Olmanese native's mind.

Thus it is Cair who strikes a light, as tense minutes pass in the smothering, clammy darkness. He puts the ember to the wick of his lamp and beholds an ominous sight-

What should be a strong yellow flame is little more than a fitful red glow, little more than a candle in luminosity. Cair examines his possessions and finds several ominous damp stains in his pack - and a pair torn scrolls rent asunder in his disarranged bandoleer!

---

The following items were torn, crushed, or outright lost in the violent fall:

Cair:
2 flasks of oil (soaking into backpack)
Monster Summons II
Protection from Evil, 10'
Potion: Stone to Flesh

Rhialle:
Bowstring on compound bow
1 silver dagger (badly bent)
Both waterskins
Flint and Steel
Hooded lantern

Myhrra:
Wand of Secret Door and Trap Detection
1 scroll: Slow Poison
Holy Symbol (maybe the gods disapprove of your heresy?)

---

Visible to the east is a rough piles of earth and stone and roots - the cave-in that brought you to this depth. Walls with waist high niches can barely be seen 10' away to the north and south, as can the frescoed ceiling some 10' overhead. The east of the chamber is lost in gloom, but Cair remembers the chamber was roughly 20' wide from north to south, and some 40' long from cave-in to the east to the western wall.

By lamplight, however, naught can be seen save the stone dais and platform that rises from the floor some 8' away. The top of the dais appears to be a diorama or votive offering of some kind - a miniature tableau beneath a half-shell of stone.

Meanwhile, the sight of the weak lanternlight confirms what Rhillae already suspected from the stale and rotten air - if fresh air is not found within an hour, a sleeping sickness will overcome the company- a sleeping sickness from which they will never awaken!

[AxeMental]

Rhillae warns the others incase they are unaware. In a low voice: "breath lightly and move slowly, their is little air down here so we must conserve it, we have but a scant hour to find a way out so only one light should be lit. " Wild eyed Rhillae grabs his sword and starts checking himself and the others for injuries. If non exist he leaves behind his broken equipment and asks which way the others want to go. He looks at the lamp to see if the flame brightens toward a particular direction whenthe lamp is moved from place to place...something that might indicate more air. If no one makes a suggestion Rhillae carefully moves toward the east to see if a way out may be found. He does his best not to cause another cave in. The wild man carries his bastard sword and shield relying on the dim lantern light to show the way.

[The Master]

Carr will give Rhillae the lantern so he can explore the east. "I doubt we can get in the way we came out."

Cair will examine the dias and see what is resting on it.

[subdolus]

Myhrra curses the misfortune of loosing perhaps her two most useful tools. After shaking off the cobwebs from the tumble she draws her mace and offers to hold the lantern if the others would like their hands free.

[AxeMental]

Rhillae makes sure they can't get back out the way they fell in and returns handing the lamp to Subdolus. He then moves over to the dias to assist in the examination.

[angle]

Myhrra takes the lantern now that the men search out the rooms dimensions. The single light makes investigation slightly more difficult, since the weak light must be brought with Rhialle, then back to Cair at the dais. As she follows the men, she finally begins to notice the rank odor that Rhialle detected almost immediately. The priest also notes a strange discoloration of her surrounds - perhaps a trick of the red flame, perhaps not. Her pale skin seems jaundiced in hue, and the all the colors of her own garb and those of her party seem darker and amber-tinted.

Rhialle's investigation of the west wall reveals fallen stone, roots, and rubble. The shifting dirt and rattling pebbles appear damp with the trickle of mud and water, and the rubble completely fills the western end of the room.

His foray to the east reveals a blank-faced stone door in the center of the wall, nearly ten feet wide and devoid of any handles. Eight holes, one inch in diameter, seem to have been drilled into the stone. They are 3" deep and contain nothing but cobwebs and moss.

As this appears to be the only exit, Rhialle looks closely at the blank slab, which appears to have opened into the Vault at some point: there are hinges on this side, and scratches in an arc across the stone floor. The lintel is arched above the door, decorated with the sky motif that dominates the ceiling frescoes, with a keystone bearing the central weight of the lintel, painted with a cratered moon design.

The niches cut in the north and south walls reveal hauntingly familiar sights to the Olmanese warrior. Each niche contains a diorama depicting some aspect of tribal life - to the simple warrior, the clothes and tools look vaguely wrong. In each diorama there are tiny 6" high clay miniatures, brightly painted, and engaged in the following activities:

Fishing (a river scene, with a dugout and fishermen, and a catch on the banks)
Farming (planting of maize and harvesting of wheat, with peasant men and women)
Religion (a tiered pyramid, much like the one above ground, complete with bat statue at the crest, with priest, serpent, and costumed warriors, and many small offerings that gleam golden in the light)
Warfare (black skinned warriors in pitched battle with red skinned olmanese, complete with severed limbs and grisly entrails on the ground)
A Creation Myth (Bizarre god-like figures engaged in strange mysteries)
Crafts (native artisans in various labors and works)

Meanwhile, Cair carefully examines the dais, finding a diorama similar to those seen by Rhialle. This depicts a hunt: native warriors stalking a deer, a puma, and a stag with the help of their dogs, while a scout watches from a crag above with a shepherd's crook. The wise mage further notes no obvious discolored stones, apertures, or other suspicious features on the dais.

58 minutes remaining[/i]

[AxeMental]

Rhialle scratches his head and studies the strange figurines, He wonders out loud what these might be here for, and then (to the others) if perhaps they should be moved to the dias and placed with the similar images.

He then examines the holes in the door, and looks around the room for something that might fit into them. He searches to see if some part of the figurine might be taken from them and placed in the holes. After this he examines the hinges to see if they might be breakable smashing them with a large rock "perhaps we can smash these hinges out and remove the door if worse comes to worse". He holds back and waits to see if the others come up with another idea first.

[angle]

Rhialle goes back and forth from niches to alcoves to door.

The 6" figurines seem a poor fit for the 1" holes in the door. The sturdy stone hinges could be broken, though precious time would be lost, perhaps too much, since there is no guarantee the stone used would not be softer than the stone of the hinges.

The scenes themselves seem pleasingly composed to convey the drama of each scene - there are no obvious gaps in the arrangement of figures, for example, or unusually clusters of figurines. But then again, Rhialle the Barbarian is no sophisticated critic of the visual arts!

[AxeMental]

Rhialle examines the dias and its base. "perhaps this thing can be moved" he pushes on it and then attempts to twist it. He searches for grip holds or any secret compartments. He then moves some of the figurines to the dias and arranges them corresponding to the scenes. If this has no effect he suggests the magician cast a detect magic spell, or perhaps breaking one of the figurines to see if anything is hidden within (perhaps something that might fit within a hole). The powerful fighter moves about like a trapped panther in a cage searching for a way to get out!

[angle]

Rhialle's increasingly frenetic actions will take a minute or two. What are Cair and Myrhha doing in the meanwhile?

[The Master]

Cair will sweep the area with detect magic.

[stranger]

Myhrra attempts to calm the nervous barbarian, "No worries, between the three of us we will find a way out."
"Cair, have you inspected the door for a possible release of some kind, that always seems to be one of your specialties."