The Hilarious Tomb of Statoniche continues to be hacked by the Danger Gang
Some time shortly after midnight, the Danger Gang is ready to continue through The Hilarious Tomb of Stratoniche. Martialis busts out another Detect Traps and they continue exploring. There are a few more hilarious traps, but they soon encounter one that is no laughing matter. "Let me set it off! Let me set it off!" cries Can, but Ramble warns him that this one is too dangerous. They tie some rope around the handle for the trapped door, then head around the corner of the dog-legged corridor. Martialis yanks it open and water comes rushing out, destroying the plaster wall on opposite it, revealing a deadly spikes. "Ha ha, you're not getting us that easy, you damn gnomes" says Arben. Then the ceiling falls on them. They crawl out from under the ceiling, broken and bruised, to see a freakish little snake bodied thing with tiny legs carrying a spear. Everybody bolts back to the room with crocopotomus-lion corpse. They drag the corpse in front of the door as Ramble hammers the door shut.
They begin to discuss a plan. If they can web it as soon as it comes in, it shouldn't be much of a problem. They drag the corpse away and soon the creature busts in the room. It gets the drop on the boys, and soon lays out Can with its spear. "Let's get out of here" says Ramble. Arben holds it off with his gust of wind dagger and everyone runs back to the entrance of the dungeon. They slam shut the secret door behind the statue of Anubis and collapse to the ground, wheezing.
Ramble heads out to find Brother Peter and request his aid. Unfortunately, the brother will not be able to join them to fight the snakey-thing, as he is in the middle of doing his pennance. He is able to give the gang a quick bit of healing, but then returns to his hail Mary's. After a little more rest and rememorization, they're ready to return to the fray. Lleryn begins tracking the creature's slither marks, made more apparent by the tar trap it slithered through. They eventually find it in a T-shaped corridor, where it stabs the ranger with it's fierce spear. Can enlarges Lleryn, much to his surprise and chagrin, but he still ends up getting hurty pretty bad. Everyone retreats into another room, where a few magic missiles and backstabs dispatch the little bugger, post haste. Still, Lleryn is looking hurt, so they return to the safety of the foyer to rest and heal some more.
In a little while, they head out to the unexplored rooms. They bypass a depantsing trap only to find a dead-end that sprays red paint at you. Luckily, the snakey-thingy already set it off, so they successfully avoid getting painted red. They head back to another unopenned door. It's trapped, but it Ramble seems to believe it's a hilarious trap, as opposed to a deadly trap. Can rushes up, crying, "let me do it, let me do it!". The wizard opens the door, only to be sprayed by a small stink cloud. He fails to notice. He does notice, however, a diminutive ghast in the room the door leads to.
The ghast rushes him, clawing and biting. The blows are so shocking, he falls paralyzed. Arben shoots out some magic missiles at the undead jerk while Lleryn tries to fell him with the old club and rapier combo. The ghast is not phased and attacks Lleryn, paralyzing him as well. It is soon dispatched, none the less. Inside the room there's another door and a shelf with a book on it. Arben runs to snatch the book for himself, and his avarice is rewarded, for inside are magical writings. Luckily, Can is too paralyzed to fight him for it. They head through the other door, which leads down a long corridor and eventually to a not so hilarious trap. When Martialis tries to deactivate it by pulling on the handle with a rope from around the corner, a portculis slams down behind everyone. A javelin on a chain shoots out from behind the door and two sluiceways open and water begins flowing into the room. Everybody panics until Martialis notices that the water is only a trickle. Lleryn raises the portculis. Martialis investigates the door, finding it to be another trick door with a wall behind it.
This leaves only the room that the snakey-thing came out of. They treck their way back to find a large room in the shape of Utah. On the floor is written "TETZEL HELMINTH". Everybody knows helminth means worm, but they're stuck for what the tezel is. On the wall is a large map, with greek numbers written on it's corresponding points. No one knows what it is mapping. In the corner is a small stone vessel afixed to the floor with three eye balls in it.
This seems like a good place to rest up. Whoever's on watch can investigate. However, after two hours some rats start climbing in through a hole in the wall. The party fights the rats and successfully avoids infection. Ramble scurries up the wall and shoves a torch in the hole, scaring away any future intruders.
Finally, Arben has memorized read magic and checks out the book. It's full of neat looking spells. Those spells are Jump, Detect Undead, Detect Evil, Blur, Levitate, Rope Trick, Feign Death, Blink, Monster Summon 1, Ikulu's Mnemonic Enhancer. He and Can are giggling like little school girls.
Lleryn draws a quick copy of the map, in the hopes that some one will know what it means. The gang wanders out of the dungeon, wondering what the fuck any of this has to do with the riddle of Stratoniche's tomb.
Before they check in to an inn for the night, they figure they might as well check out some of the other sights. The hippodrome turns out to be a bust, as does the quarry by the monastery of Joseos David. They do see the relic in the Church Of The Mother Of God, which is an icon made without hands. It does have magical properties, but nobody can give any specifics.
Before the night is up, Lleryn wants to check out the button on the bottom of the club. Everyone heads out to a field outside of town and stands a safe distance away as Lleryn pushes the button. A blade snaps out, cutting his fingers and arms. He now has a handy short sword. He presses the blade back in, then pushes the button again. It cuts his arm some more. It seems he can't percieve which side the blade will come out of, and so it will inevitably cut him if he wants to use the short sword. He shrugs his shoulders and stuffs it back in his bag. The Gang checks into an inn for the night.
