The Danger Gang Polishes Off That Same Hall Of Ancients
After a quiet night resting, the Danger Gang feels up to a little more hacking. Karp has gotten a head start on the day and gone down to the end of the hallway. He finds a few more doors on the side of the hall, and one at the end. He reports this back and everyone seems anxious to check this one out. They Knock open the door and on the other side they find...copper! A mountain of copper pieces! All the copper they could ever want and more! There are even a few other types of coins to sweeten the pot. Ramble is instantly excited. Martialis notices that there is a bit of honey at the top of the pile of coins. "This is where the cup from upstairs goes," he proclaims. Ramble volunteers to sort the coins so that each man can get their fair share. Arben consents on the condition that he can borrow the clord while he takes care of this.
The fun and excitement of this room doesn't stop there, though. There is another door in the room. While they fear there's trouble up there that will need every man, Ramble is too enchanted by these coins to join them. They open the door revealing a five by five room. Arben gives a quick listen at the door and hears a bubbling sound, not unlike a happy fish. They open the door, but there is no fish to be found. There are only two half columns on the east and west walls. Everyone is a little nervous about the sound, though. Arben grabs a few copper coins and tosses them into the room. Nothing. Martialis casts Dust Devil, but strangely, the Dust Devil quickly dissapates. Everyone is disturbed by that. Martialis casts Detect Magic, but there seems to be nothing magical in the room. It's then that everyone accept Can notices a small paw emerge from the floor and grabs one of the copper coins. That freaks everyone out a little bit. It's decided that Arben will climb along the walls and see if he can read the inscriptions on the columns and find out a little more about this room. He climbs first to the one to the west, where he reads the following to his companions:
"In Guinneth I met a king with birch spears. First came the king, then the birch, then the spears."
Although he knows that Guinneth is a kingdom in Wales, nobody has any idea what that is about. Arben sidles over to the other pillar which reads:
"The nagas say the sun shines by day because, being a woman, she is afraid to venture out at night. But I say the sun shines only at night, for otherwise in the brightness of day we would never even notice its feeble light"
Once again, everyone is clueless. Arben tries to leave, but then he loses his grip and falls to the floor. It is then that a pair of Chaugrin rise up from out of the floor. A battle ensues. The little buggers quickly latch on to Martialis' and Karp's legs and start digging their claws in. Our boys try to drag them out of the room, but the little buggers weigh a ton (not literally). Can Reduces the one on Martialis while Arben Levitates the other. This makes them a little more movable and they run out of the room; the Chaugrin detach as they exit. The one that Arben had Levitated is floating there, muttering to itself. Thusly immobilized, they are able to cut it to pieces. Its skull head ends up detached from its body and remains floating there.
That battle did a little number on our boys, who decide to rest up before going after the other. After doing so, they prepare themselves for battle. Can casts Mirror Image on himself and the re-kick the door open, ready to face the other Chaugrin. They try to diminish its fighting abilities, but the little bugger keeps making its saves. Still, with Can's many distracting, whirling Cans, it's claws are unable to find purchase. It soon falls to their magical might.
They rest a little more, then Martialis attempts to Stone Shape behind those pillars. Nothing. They spend the rest of the day investigating the rest of the locked doors in the Hall of The Ancients. They find boxes labled Fila, Cleopatra, Phillip, Alexander, Arhideous, Meneleus, Phitotas, and Antioches. There is also smaller box labled Alexander, presumably for the corpse of a child. They stack all these boxes in one small room by the entrance and Martialis Fire Traps the door. He then tries to puzzle over the Inscription Regarding the Three Charms of Ikkulu on the obelisk while everyone else grabs some shut eye.
When they wake in the mid-afternoon, Arben goes to track down Ramble so they can progress to the next tomb. However, he's nowhere to be found. It seems the more valuable coins from the large pile have gone missing as well. He rounds everybody up and they start scouring the dungeon. When they make it back to the entrance, the find an upset looking dwarf hanging in Martialis' Snare. "Get me down from here!" he wails. They question him as to what he's doing here, but he seems more interested in getting down than answering questions. He does reveal that Ramble climbed out over him, muttering something along the lines of "So long, suckers." They cut him down, and he tells a little of his back story. His name is Vjk Skullhammer, and he was "convinced" by villagers to leave his home town and see the world. Arben tells him that he is the leader of a group of archeologists working for a museum in Chrysopolis, and is he could lend a little muscle, then perhaps he could get the share of the gold that was to go to their cowardly companion. He says he's in.
Before getting ready to relax for another few hours so they can get a fresh start the next day, they go and grab Tobin, who's melancholy is in remission. Martialis also Stone Shapes out the cup with the magical hole to the basement. They now have a ready means of transporting coins to this room at their leasure.
