Zephirah hurries to the jamb and braces a shoulder against the sandstone, adding her weight to Ophelia’s anchor point while wrapping the rope once around her forearm for extra purchase. “Got it—climb steady, I’ll keep the line snug,” she calls down, leaning back to counterbalance Satina’s ascent.

While the fighter works her way up, Zeph lets her gaze roam past the yawning doorway now half-open, tracking the play of shadow and dust just beyond it and noting each echo that drifts from the unseen passage ahead. The moment the rope slackens, she’ll shift to the next climber—or, if all is clear, slip a few steps forward to study how the corridor bends or broadens beyond the threshold.

Perception: 16,7

(What's the lighting situation? I assume darkness, so with dark vision we perceive as dim light and rolls with disadvantage?)

As Satina is safely up, Nephthys too would climb up the rope.

Athelics: 19

(Satina Athletics if needed to climb out: 14)

Ophelia's quick arcane reflexes spare a nasty fall for her three allies. Using the rope is simple enough, and with a little effort they emerge on the southern side of the pit trap. Still, there is now a ten-foot chasm to cross...

(A Sleight of Hand or Investigation check may reveal how to jam the mechanism so that the floor holds. Or you may have a more creative solution.)

Ahead, the hallway leads into pitch darkness. For those who can see in the darkness, tall, pink granite columns, carved and painted to resemble palm trees, stand around the perimeter of a chamber.

"I am going to need a light," Satina says. "Should I grab one of my torches?" She steps back, letting others check out how to jam the mechanism. It's not really the sort of thing she knows about. 

"Maybe I can help with that..." Nephthys says and whispers a soft prayer, calling upon her divine powers to make Satina's shield cast a heavenly light to guide them deeper into the pyramid, then giving the armoured woman a small smile to see if she approved.

(Cast Light)

The young dark-haired woman then uses the light to carefully look for ways to jam the pit trap mechanism.

SoH: 22 + Guidance: 1

Zephirah gives the rope a final tug as Satina swings onto solid ground, then rubs her shoulder with an exaggerated wince. “Mercy, Satina—you carry that new flail like it’s forged from meteor iron. Testing my resolve, were you?” The grin that follows is all good humor, quickly sobered by a glance toward the yawning darkness ahead.

(I assume Zeph saw Satina climbing walls before as she has a climbing speed, albeit only just recently it fully manifested. )

Zahara’s boots scuff quietly against the stone as she pulls herself up over the southern ledge, staff slung across her back. She steadies herself with a hand on the sandstone wall, catching her breath before peering back across the pit they narrowly escaped.

“Ten feet,” she murmurs, narrowing her eyes at the false floor. “Not far, but far enough if someone’s not paying attention.”

She crouches near the edge, staff tapping lightly as she examines the floor’s edges and hinges with a careful eye, muttering arcane syllables under her breath as she lays a hand against the stone.

“Let’s not let this trap breathe twice.”

She kneels near the edge and begins inspecting the trap’s mechanism, narrowing her focus on the hinge that allowed the stone panel to swing open. With practiced care, she runs her fingers along the edge where the trapdoor meets solid floor, searching for pressure plates, gears, or any signs of a locking catch, looking for a way to disable or jam the trap permanently.

Investigation check: 14

With the aid of Thoth's light spell, Nephthys is able to discern how to jam the mechanism with a piece of loose stone, thus rendering the floor stable enough to support one creature at a time as you dash single file over the space.

Beyond, tall, pink granite columns, carved and painted to resemble palm trees, stand around the perimeter of this chamber, supporting the barrel vault of the ceiling. Slabs of the same pink granite line the walls. A stone sarcophagus stands alone on the limestone floor in the center of the room. Beyond, a dark doorway leads deeper into the pyramid to the west.

(Actions? Please move your token accordingly.)

Zahara waits until Nephthys has secured the loose stone into the mechanism, watching as the floor groans softly into place. Once satisfied, she nods. “Good. One at a time, then, quickly.”

When her turn comes, she crosses the now-stable panel at a controlled run. The moment her boots strike solid stone on the other side, she turns sharply, her attention is immediately drawn upward, to the towering granite columns. Her brow furrows, the reverence she felt moments before fading as her eyes fall on the lone sarcophagus standing alone at the heart of the chamber.

Once across, she steps clear, then turns, staff angled slightly forward, poised for defense. As the others begin to cross, she lets her hand brush the shaft of her staff, whispering a brief invocation. A faint shimmer of divine energy coils along her fingers before sinking into her skin.

With her focus honed, Zahara slowly begins to circle the chamber’s edge, keeping her distance from the sarcophagus at its center. “No offerings. No statues as guardians. Just the tomb,” she murmurs, stepping in a slow arc around the perimeter, eyes scanning the floor and columns, searching for pressure plates, inscriptions, or glyphs hidden beneath dust or paint.

Perception Role: 11 + (Guidance) + 2=13

When climbing out, Satina gives Zephirah a smile at her jest. "Just wanted to check on your abilities. Didn't mean to hurt you though. Perhaps I can help you with that shoulder at some point." Her eyes follows hers into the gloomy darkness. "When we're in a better setting."

She is grateful to Nephthys for placing the magical light on her shield. "Perfect. That's going to help a lot." See then holds the shield so others can see the trap mechanism. 

Once the work is done, Satina moves across the pieces of the floor that is now fixed in place.  She scans the room, also keeping an eye out for more traps or other dangers. (Perception: 18)

"Do we check out the sarcophagus? Or ignore it?" she asks.

(OOC - I'll have to move later, not able to get Roll20 to work at the moment.)

Nephthys cautiously follows along together with Thoth, the former carefully looking for any indications of traps while the latter looks around for symbols and pictograms to be studied.

Perception 17 + Guidance: 4

"We'll definitely take a closer look at that sarcophagus, we'll just have to find a safe passage over to it." The dark-haired young woman says with some excitement in her eyes. "Considering we are only at the very edge of the pyramid still I would expect this to be some sort of guardian rather than the Pharaoh himself and we should probably expect it to emerge any at any time." 

Nephthys doesn't notice any traps. Thoth notes that, in contrast with traditional Osirian tomb design, Sekhpa- Mefer incorporated the mortuary temple usually found just outside a tomb inside the pyramid itself. The columned hypostyle may serve as the entry hall. The hieroglyphs proclaim the many titles of Pharaoh Sekh-pa-Mefer III, and the reliefs show his numerous military victories over his enemies.

Zahara finds a hidden door in the north wall. And Satina finds another hidden door on the south well.

(Please place your tokens on the map, or else tell me where you are standing.)

Zephirah crosses the steadied panel last, light on her feet, and steps beneath the vaulted ceiling. The carved columns draw her at once; she drifts toward one, tracing the fluted trunk with an appreciative palm. “Stone palms in a sandless grove,” she murmurs, almost tuning the words to a half-melody—the chamber feels like an echo of the oasis they freed, only preserved in granite instead of water and green. She cranes her neck to admire the feathered fronds, searching the carved fronds and painted bands for repeating symbols or subtle seams that might mark a concealed pivot. (Investigation 23)

When Zahara and Satina point out the hidden doors in the flanking walls, Zeph backs away from the column’s base and nods. “An entry hall with three exits—our pharaoh liked options. Yet only one is unconcealed.” She lets bow hair brush lightly across the viol strings in a contemplative hum. “If these palms are more than decoration, they might hint which path the builders favored.” She positions herself between the north and south walls, ready to lend eyes—or music-borne distraction—while the others probe the silent thresholds.

Zahara’s eyes narrow faintly as her fingers trace the subtle seam of the hidden door along the northern wall. She steps back, brushing dust from her hands, then glances to where Satina has uncovered a second concealed passage opposite hers.

"None are marked with the protective glyphs one would expect. Curious." she says softly, her voice cool and precise.

She listens to Zephirah’s melody, the brush of strings a subtle echo in the stone chamber, then turns toward the columns and the open archway to the west. Her gaze lingers on the hieroglyphs, the boastful reliefs carved to immortalize the pharaoh’s might. "He did not expect to be forgotten.” she muses aloud, more to herself than anyone else. 

With a quiet word, she reaches once more for divine favor, letting the faint shimmer of Guidance settle as she kneels before the north wall again. This time, her intent is deliberate, searching the threshold of the hidden passage for signs of wear, dust patterns disturbed, or divine symbols hidden within the masonry, anything to suggest which path had been used last,or most often.

 “Let’s see if the stones remember which way the living once preferred.”

Investigation roll: 14 + (Guidance) + 2=16

Ophelia trots across the jammed pit trap as if oblivious as usual, murmuring softly as she approaches the sarcophagus.  Arriving within 30' of it, she attempts to discern from her ongoing Detect Magic aura picks up traces of magic, from it or from the palm-like marble pillars ringing the room.

"White his shroud as mountain snow
Round which fronds of palm shall grow."

Seeing the efforts of Zahara checking the other hidden doorway, Satina decides to move closer to the door on the south wall, similarly looking at it for any indications. (Investigation: 2) "I'm not really sure what we're looking for here," she comments. 

With some unusual excitement the tiny blue sphinx would quietly share all and everything about what he finds, often digressing down to more obscure anecdotes about the old Pharaoh Sekh-pa-Mefer III. 

Meanwhile, Nephthys joins Satina by the south wall. "Well done spotting this hidden door, to open it can be any number of ways unfortunately, but likely there is some kind of hidden mechanism around here." She says softly while carefully looking on and around the door in the south wall for traps and way to open it.

Investigation: 12 + Guidance: 3

Nephthys Initiative: 12

Ophelia Initiative: 22 --Tides of Chaos expended--

Satina Initiative: 21

Zahara Initiative: 4

Zephira Initiative: 5

Enemy1 Initiative: 13

A low, wet creak splits the air. The surface of the sarcophagus shudders, then writhes, and suddenly the whole thing lurches forward, ancient dust billowing as stone gives way to pulsing, muscular flesh. What looked like decorative inlays now ripple like veins; the once-still lid splits open into a yawning maw of jagged, dripping teeth. A grotesque, many-limbed mimic snarls to life, tongue lashing out like a whip, hunger gleaming in its shifting eyes!

Initiative (bold may act):

1. Satina, Nephthys, Ophelia, Zephira
2. Enemy
3. Zahara