Kurma looks around and sees that all enemies have been slayed or have fled. "Well, I'll check the scribe's office. Keep an eye out."
The tortle starts by casting detect magic (as a ritual) to see if there's anything of importance or any magical trap. He then sits and goes through the different books, thinking "If this one was as old as Moa suggested, there must be an incredible ammount of History here..."

Stepping on and over the guardian, Irommek wanders into the room the creature was blocking and looks carefully at the tables and contents in the room.  Glancing occasionally up the stairs, he grips his hammer firm in his hand as he makes his investigation around the room.  He lost an arm because he picked up something that he wasn't supposed to.  He won't make that mistake again...unless he has a keg or two of ale in him of course.  

"It's armor is salvageable if you want it."

Quote from _Grimnir_ >>

Kurma looks around and sees that all enemies have been slayed or have fled. "Well, I'll check the scribe's office. Keep an eye out."
The tortle starts by casting detect magic (as a ritual) to see if there's anything of importance or any magical trap. He then sits and goes through the different books, thinking "If this one was as old as Moa suggested, there must be an incredible ammount of History here..."

 If Kurma can get a lesson for all of this, it is that even evil, undead creatures can be great historians. The books are filled with the entire history of Omu, the Tomb of the Nine Gods, the arrival of the atropal, and the construction of the Soulmonger.

An entry from the scribe's journal stands out:

On the desk, Kurma's spell detects the enchantment aura of a translucent, fist-sized gray stone. Beside, a spellbook and a manual of golems (clay) lies open.

HISTORY SIDEBAR

After Acererak murdered Omu's gods, be enslaved the Omuans and forced them to carve a grand tomb under one of the cliffs surrounding the city. The archlich devised brutal trials for each burial chamber, and sprinkled riddles and illusions throughout to deceive intruders. When the building work was done, he fed his slaves into the death trap to test its efficacy. The archlich turned some of his victims into undead and flesh golems, then locked them inside the tomb to serve as guardians. Acererak then resumed his wanderings. In Acererak's absence, the tomb snared adventurers from faraway lands and harvested their souls to feed the archlich's phylactery, which remained hidden on another plane. Every few decades, Acererak returned to tinker with his dungeon's traps, add treasure to its vaults, and reap a bounty of hoarded souls. His planar wanderings have influenced the tomb's mishmash of architectural styles, and have populated it with strange and deadly monsters.

On one of his journeys through the cosmos, Acererak stumbled upon an atropal. He brought it to Toril, ensconced it in the cradle of his tomb, and began feeding it necromantic energy, hoping to transform it into a deity: one able to claim dominion over death. Unleashed on Toril, the newborn death god would glut itself on life until none but the dead walked the world.

To nurture the atropal, Acererak needed an untold number of souls. The archlich made a bargain with the Sewn Sisters. a coven of night hags feared throughout the Lower Planes. Seduced by the prospect of a near-endless supply of souls, the hags joined Acererak in his tomb. With their assistance, the archlich crafted the Soulmonger- a necromantic device that could reap the souls of the dying from across Toril and feed them to the atropal. Leaving the Sewn Sisters behind as nursemaids, Acererak abandoned his tomb to watch the rise of the death god from afar.

Quote from Spock >>

Stepping on and over the guardian, Irommek wanders into the room the creature was blocking and looks carefully at the tables and contents in the room.  Glancing occasionally up the stairs, he grips his hammer firm in his hand as he makes his investigation around the room.  He lost an arm because he picked up something that he wasn't supposed to.  He won't make that mistake again...unless he has a keg or two of ale in him of course.  

 Nothing is coming from the stairs. The wights must be awaiting.

Aside from the gruesome tools and contraptions, and the occasional rat, the room has little to offer. A beautiful but dusty lantern is set aside, on the floor near the northern wall.

"Anything interesting Kurma?" After dealing with the Guardian and take its plate off, Isabella will join Kurma in the book room. Reading a few books she realizes all of the history of Omu. "We got to take these books with us! So much history!"

She starts writing in her journal and focuses on copying the material.

Kurma takes a few minutes to skim through the pile of information. “Well my friends, we know now that the soulmonger is a machine, destined to feed an undead god called atropal. These two things probably reside down in the lower levels. It seems we should also expect a fight against a coven of night hags named the Sewn Sisters. The good news is that eveything starts to make sense now, I can see what we have to do.”

Kurma looks at Isabella. “You can have a look if you want. I will place the books in my backpack. People outside needs to know what happened here. It seems we found also a manuel to create golem, but this need very strong level of magic and time. We can keep it for later.”

Meanwhile, Kurma will cast Identify on the gray stone.

OOC: how many Kg of books ?

“Uh huh, wait we’re leaving?! Oh, Undead God that’s not good. Well if you promise once we leave this place and survive you’ll let me copy the rest of these books. The manual seems good for later use. Where to next we got upstairs to the 3rd floor and the other room back where we came and the one the guardian was in?”

Quote from _Grimnir_ >>

Kurma takes a few minutes to skim through the pile of information. “Well my friends, we know now that the soulmonger is a machine, destined to feed an undead god called atropal. These two things probably reside down in the lower levels. It seems we should also expect a fight against a coven of night hags named the Sewn Sisters. The good news is that eveything starts to make sense now, I can see what we have to do.”

Kurma looks at Isabella. “You can have a look if you want. I will place the books in my backpack. People outside needs to know what happened here. It seems we found also a manuel to create golem, but this need very strong level of magic and time. We can keep it for later.”

Meanwhile, Kurma will cast Identify on the gray stone.

OOC: how many Kg of books ?

 The stone is revealed to be a Control Gem of a Gray Slaad.

OOC I'd say 11 pounds of books.

Quote from BeastyC >>

“Uh huh, wait we’re leaving?! Oh, Undead God that’s not good. Well if you promise once we leave this place and survive you’ll let me copy the rest of these books. The manual seems good for later use. Where to next we got upstairs to the 3rd floor and the other room back where we came and the one the guardian was in?”

 “This is not a problem Isabella. Let’s survive this tomb and get rid of this atropal, then we’ll spend some time at the tavern . As much time we need to copy the book .”

The party decides to retreat and check the door with the three zombies sticking their head out of the oval holes. The door seems heavy, but movable upward.

"Perhaps one of the clerics would like to dead with the zombies? We still have the scribe out and about could come at us any moment. Then we got the third floor to deal with."

Kurma smashes  the head of one of the zombie with his mace. “Like this?”

Quote from _Grimnir_ >>

Kurma smashes  the head of one of the zombie with his mace. “Like this?”

 One zombie down, two more to go.

"I was think more of turn undead but that will work I guess." Isabella will lift her great axe and cut the other two head's off.

Attack1: 28 Damage: 10

Attack2: 11 Damage: 13

The door is now zombie-free. However, two gruesome zombie heads are at the party's feet, the third is smashed against the door.

“Looks like the door can move upward. Gertrude, Brunella, can you help ?”

"Of course!!!" Gertrude grips the door strongly and pushes it upwards. 

Quote from tiomila >>

"Of course!!!" Gertrude grips the door strongly and pushes it upwards. 

 The door proves to be too heavy for Gertrude alone.