C2 Session 20: The Mummy Bride
General Summary
20th of Anarire 1545 Continued
The party stops to take a short rest with Margaret doing a Detect Magic ritual when they are finished at 10:30am. With the aid of the magic she can see The jar, the four clay pots and the two longswords are magical. They head back to check the statues on the other side of the structure to see if anything is magical. They take everything but leave the pots here for identification later. Sadly in the statue room there is nothing magical there. The ghoul rooms prove to also be lacking in magical items.
As they continue South and head SW to head through the doorway by walking between the totems in the room, five giant frogs appear and four larger devil looking frogs appear. Margaret jumps back for a moment and calls down the moon's light to burn two of the giant frogs. One of these injured frogs jump up and try to bite Margaret. Margaret throws up a silvery light to protect herself from the frog that tries to jump at her. Thankfully she is too big for them to swallow her, but the larger frogs on the other side of the room are another matter as one of those larger frog jump up and bite Jamal, grappling and him. Another three of the smaller frogs attack Margaret but they hit her shield. The last small one tries and fails to attack Ana.
Jeriam draws his shortsword and attacks the large devil frog that has hold of Jamal. He gets in one hit but they seem more sturdy then the smaller frogs. Ana calls down Xeldarix's radiance but the damage doesn't do as much as Ana thought it might. Another large frog jumps up to attack Ana but she uses her shield ability with the staff to protect herself. Jamal can see that the strength of these larger frogs will be very bad for the party so he banes them to make it harder for them to attack the party and resist their spells. Ubek, Tarhun and Brin come to Jamal's aid. Brin attacks while Ubek and Tarhun pull him out of the Frog's mouth. Thankfully two of the larger frogs are stuck in the corner, unable to move past their companions.
Margaret kills one of the smaller frogs with a scared flame. Two of the other frogs try to attack Margaret and miss, but one does bite and grapple Margaret. Ana kills another of the smaller frogs. The larger frog that lost Jamal bites and grabs hold of Jeriam, really badly hurting him. Jeriam tries to escape but the frog's hold is too strong for him. Ana tries to pull him out of the mouth but the large frog is stronger then her magical pull. Meanwhile Tarhun is also bitten by another large devil and is grappled. Jamal pulls Tarhun out from the frog's mouth while healing Jeriam. Brin attacks the larger frog that had Jeriam and does a lot of damage to it but it was still standing. Tarhun attacks the frog that once had hold of him, and got in two big hits.
Feeling overwhlemed by the three smaller frogs around her, Margaret casts Thunderwave and pushes back two of the frog while hurting all three. The three fogs return to attack. One misses and two hits, grappling Margaret again. The frog holding Jeriam swallows him, knocking him out. Margaret tries to prevent it with Silvery Barbs but it doesn't work but Brin is empowered by the spell. Ana climbs over one of the dead frogs, dodging an attack from one of the large frogs in order to try and blast one of the frogs coming after Margaret and kills it before healing Jamal. The large frog that had hold of Tarhun attacks Ubek and gets a really strong hit on him and grapples him. Jamal heals Ubek and empowers him with his next attack. Not wanting to be swallowed, Ubek grows in size so he can't be swallowed. He gets in a good hit an activates his fire rune so the frog holding him is restrained like himself.
Brin hits the frog that swallowed Jeriam very hard and nearly kills it but it's still alive for now. Tarhun takes advantage of the fact that one frog has Ubek in it's mouth so he can get to the one that has Jeriam and tries to kill it but while he does get it closer to death, he doesn't quite manage it. The frog with Jeriam in it's stomach attacks and grapples Tarhun. Margaret uses another thunderwave to give herself some space. One is pushed back and both were hurt. One of them tries and fails to attack Margaret. Ana kills that frog and the one grappling Tarhun and the one digesting Jeriam before trying and failing to telekinetically shoving the last frog away from Margaret. The frog grappling Ubek tries to bite him again but misses. Ubek tries to attack the frog but he also misses.
Jamal sees how his bane is helping the party and the fact they have a limited amount of time to get Jeriam out of the dead frog to make sure he isn't dead dead, he misty steps to that frog and pulls Jeriam out who is bleeding out. A moment later the frog dissolved into a blast of necrotic energy that hurts Ubek and Tarhun. The The last smaller frog bites Margaret. She is really hurt now and tries to kill it but it continues to hope around despite her best efforts. Brin attacks the restrained frog while it tries and fails to attack Ubek again. Tarhun backs up and uses his crossbow to attack that same frog and get in two good hits after giving Jeriam a potion. Jeriam gets up and back up before pulling out his longbow and killing the other large frog that wasn't stuck. There are still two large frogs left. The frog dissolves into force energy which hits Brin and Ubek.
Ana takes out the last smaller frog and heals Ubek. Jamal also gives some healing to Ubek while ordering Tarhun and Jeriam to stay back and continue using their ranged weapons before throwing necrotic magic at one of the large remaing frogs. Tarhun adoes as they are told and get in a few hits on the frog. Ubek tries to attack the same frog but misses. Brin however has no issues hitting this frog and unloads on him. The frog tries to bite Brin but misses. Margaret uses her moon magic to try and hurt both of the remaining frogs but only hits one. Jeriam lines up his shots and takes out one of the frogs which leaves one remaining. Ana gets two shots in on the frog that remains. Jamal throws his magic at the creature while Ubek backs up to get out his shortbow and gets in a good hit. Brin is the only one in melee with the remaining frog now and gets 3 hits in.
At this point the other frog corpse dissolves into force damage and hits Brin while the remaining frog bites Brin and grapples him. Tarhun gets a bolt into the frog while Margaret attacks it's mind. It's only just still up. Jeriam misses completely but Ana doesn't as she finishes it off before shoving it back telekinetically so no one is hit by the last blast of energy. Ana starts yelling and calling that bullshit while prestidigitating the bile off Jeriam which he appreciated while Brin checks on him. They agree to go pay for lady favours and drink when they make it to Shoufal.
They check out that SW room and see it is a dead end and cautiously enter to see if it is a safe place to take a rest. This long hall is 20' wide and 60' long, lined with alcoves along each wall. There are 15 alcoves along the western and eastern walls and 5 alcoves along the southern wall, each containing the dried, mummified remains of a man, woman or child. A large stone table dominates the center of this room, with a variety of objects laid out upon it, and six twisted and mummified bodies lie beneath the table. Several bones and a few skulls lies scattered about the chamber’s floor, along with bits of general filth and debris. Much like the rest of the tomb, vines and roots slither across the chamber’s ceiling.
They are horrorified by the bodies but Ana can see they aren't undead. Ana spots that the bodies have jewellery on them, there are quality tools on the large table, there is a glint from an open box that reminds Ana of gold and there is something strange about a rug leaned against the corner. The rug on the floor shows it's age, but the one in corner doesn't. Ana goes in to inspect the lidless boxes with gold in them. The coins are thicker and emblazoned with a grinning skull over a blazing sun. Ana realises these were likely from before the battle of Deismaar. They seem like a coin that was maybe made to mock Basaia given the skull over a sun.
So it is weird but safe. Or it was until Brin went to look at the area next to a rug standing up in the corner which attacks him. Thankfully this fight isn't as harrowing as the previous but the rug relentlessly focuses on Brin, doing a fair bit of damage to him before Margaret is able to finish it off. They quickly agree to start a short rest at 11:30am.
During the rest, Ana and Margaret count coins. They start with the ones in the room. There are a total of 465g pieces of the skull and sun coins. Then the platinum they got from the lizard folk mummy was 1918pp. Afterwards Margaret collects the jewellery found from the bodies around them. The alcoves are filled with the mummified remains of men, women and children, clad in once-brightly colored woven textiles held together by rusting metal pins. Headbands, tasseled fringes and simple woven bracelets are common amongst the mummies. Each mummy also wears a necklace of small crystal beads. There are 15 in total.
The party heads back to the place where the toads and such spawned to inspect the door. Brin sees it is trapped. Ana and Ubek disarm and unlock the door. Ana takes the lead in opening the door. A horrible, well-carved stone idol dominates the wall of this chamber, its 8 arms outstretched and fashioned with sconces to hold torches. The idol’s body resembles a powerfully built devil with a necklace and belt fashioned from the screaming heads and skulls of the living. Its face, however, has been chipped and struck away, rendering its identity and terrible countenance unknown. Numerous niches and holes fill the unholy statue, and it appears that gems and precious stones were once held in them. Before the idol, a simple-looking stone bowl sits, stained with fire and what the party can only guess to be the remnants of long-dried sacrificial blood. In this room there are also two stairs going up and open hallways to the left and right of the room.
Ana and Margaret check for traps and while they find none, they do find a secret door behind the idol. Ana rushes to open it. It leads to a morbid chamber is dominated by a large, stacked pile of severed, mummified heads – some two hundred or more, at least – and is flanked by two squat, beaten copper braziers. Between them, a small series of steps lead up to a raised dais. This dais is large enough for a handful of people to kneel or prostrate themselves before the grisly mountain of skulls. The floor in front of the skulls is covered in old, dark stains which must surely be dried blood. Off to the right are two alcoves.
The doorways to these small shrines were once covered in dual curtains of brightly-colored peacock feathers, but they have not fared well with the passing of ages and will literally disintegrate under the touch of the players. The shrine to the north features a demonic idol carved from stone - a squatting, devilish-looking toad with a profane sneer upon its bulbous lips. It is cracked and crumbling, though it is held tightly together from the many roots, vines and plants that have slithered over it from a crack in the wall behind it. The southern shrine depicts another stone idol - a jaguar headed demon with a snarling, evil countenance, its arm outstretched and its hand clenched in a grip stained with old blood and wisps of human hair. This statue is in slightly better shape than the other, as the vines and vegetation from the jungle outside have not yet had their way with it. At the foot of this hideous idol is a beaten copper bowl that has been filled with 13 mummified monkey paws.
Margaret checks for hidden things but there is nothing to be found. However she does suspect it is magical due to the lack of damage to it. Margaret identifies it while Ana uses her magic to look for other magic. Margaret learns of the dais magic:
Though it has been many centuries since the enchantments in this room were used, the magic still remains. Now, if an appropriate sacrifice is made, and a divination-type spell is cast, all of the mummified heads will begin shaking, rocking from side to side, muttering in unison their secrets in the dry, cracked voices of the dead. Any divination-type spell used in this way will be 100% accurate and will have its duration doubled.
As they quickly look for magical items with Ana, she sees the idol is magical. Margaret stops to identify it as Brin and Ana continue to run around to the Western side rooms off this idol room. Unfortunately this leads to Ana finding a giant centipede that attacks her. Brin is quick to pull Ana away from the danger as Tarhun bravely rushes in to attack the insect. However the bug nearly eats Tarhun before he's able to cave in the creature's head. With the danger over, Margaret gets back to identifying. Ana goes back to the room to look it over.
This chamber appears to have once housed a simple armory of sorts, for defense of the inner temple in times of trouble. The walls are painted with once-vivid frescoes showing the clashing of armies, while white-painted priests atop terrible looking giant lizards rain down lightning and fiery death from the heavens, setting the opposing army ablaze. Ana searches the room carefully. The cracked, crumbling walls still hold hooks and decaying shelves, though they can no longer bear any weight. 8 obsidian-tipped spears lean against the northwestern corner of the room and 4 obsidian short swords stand against the west wall, next to 3 wooden shields bearing the symbol of a grinning skull over a blazing sun. Two plumed helmets, inset with jade – their feathers long rotted away – sit against the eastern wall.
Brin looks over the spears, shortswords and helmets and deems they have value but the shields don't. After wards Ana continues to make her way to the next room. This chamber once served as a sleeping chamber for several of the temple’s evil priests. Vines and jungle roots spread across cracks in the ceiling and the floor is covered with rotted debris. The western walls have been painted with religious scenes from the temple’s most profane days, showing the herding, preparation and eventual sacrifice of brightly-painted slaves atop the temple’s steps. Another scene depicts several priests wearing feathered headdresses bowing and scraping before a shadowed form with two evil-looking, smoldering eyes.
Ana quickly moves onto the other side of siderooms. This room also once served as the sleeping quarters for several of the temple’s vile priests. As with most areas of the ground floor, vines have slithered their way across the ceiling and bits of subterranean moss hang low from above. The ceiling and surrounding walls show many cracks and small gaps, and the floor is scattered with dust and crumbling debris. The western walls have been painted with once bright images depicting the depraved priests of the temple drugging and subsequently sacrificing a woman clad in heavy-looking golden jewelry, then examining her blood and bones upon a dark altar for answers from the evil gods they worshiped. Ana finds a mummifed hand that clutches a potion pot but doesn't realise it's there until she's picked up the pot. She quickly brings it to Margaret before checking the last room.
The doorway to this chamber gives way to a 15' long and 5' wide ledge, that then opens up into a small cavern of sorts with a large hole in the floor. The reek of putrid water is strong here and the walls glint slightly in the presence of light from the moisture below. Subterranean moss and lichen grow heavily along the ledge. This chamber once held an open-air cenote – a limestone sinkhole of sorts that captured both water from underground streams and groundwater, along with rainwater, to serve as a watering hole in the depths of the jungle. The temple was built on top of this cenote and for many years it served as a reliable water source for the benign folk who resided here before the temple became a place of profane evil and sacrificial bloodshed. The roof of this chamber extends upwards, apparently to another chamber above. The walls of the cenote are porous limestone, but they are covered in a disgusting but non-deadly green-black slime, making climbing out very difficult.
By this stage Margaret has finished identifying the idol. She tells the group about it does.
The faceless Idol of Azari
At one time, this idol had an actual religious purpose and significance to the evil cultists of the pyramid. In the centuries since it was abandoned, would be plunderers and wayward adventurers have hacked away and stolen the gemstones from the sundered face of this evil god. All the while, the diabolical energies of the unholy pyramid have slowly crept in, twisting its original powers. Sacrifices of 1000 gold can be made to receive a blessing if the god deems you worthy.
Ana considers destroying the idol but the group decides not to risk upsetting whatever might still watch over this temple for now. They head upstairs. Stairs to the west and the east lead up into this simple chamber. Creeping vines and bits of clinging moss hang from the ceiling, while the floor is deeply engraved with the image of a blazing sun. A curious-looking archway leads to the north, its doorway obscured in shifting, smoky shadows. The archway is meticulously carved and highly stylized from volcanic rock, with the awning carved to depict a blazing sun with a leering skull wearing a headdress positioned in the middle of it. A thick, creeping fog obscures the inside of the archway, and shadows shift and move inside of it.
Margaret's wish from the well allows her to see a little into the darkness and fog. As a result she walks through the doorway without consulting the group. She feels the physical dangerous cling to her but also feels something starting to physically and mentally weigh her down and feel ill. It's not helped by the muffled calls from her friends coming through the darkness as they panic. She refocuses her mind in time to stop the party trying to follow her. Margaret follows the wall round to the left. In an alcove she finds a crumbling, vine-covered stone statue of a growling, jaguar, its head bent low and its ears perked high in menace. The cracks in the wall of the alcove and ceiling have allowed climbing plants, roots and creeper vines to snake in and strangle the idol, covering it quite thoroughly.
She approves the plant strangling the idol as she continues and comes to another alcove. This alcove contains a cracked, stone idol depicting a coiled giant snake, its mouth open, fangs bared and eyes glittering with some sort of gemstone. A once-brightly colored bowl sits at the foot of the idol with something in it. She leaves them for now and finds the exit opposite the wall she came in. The darkness releases her and she leaves it, but still feels weighed down and ill. She looks around this new room.
There are doors on the west, east and south walls. An intricately carved stone throne, painted with flaking gold color, rests against the north wall. To either side of the throne, the walls are engraved with a richly detailed carving, painted with a once-vivid overlay depicting a woman wearing a skull-like headdress decorated with feathers and glittering skirt made of gemstones facing a yawning archway that roils and stirs with shifting, menacing shadows. It appears that it was once set with many precious gemstones in the carving of the woman’s skirt, but that these have either been removed or pried loose. Loose bits of rubbish and debris litter the floor and vines snake across the ceiling.
Margaret quickly starts to look for clues about to get past the darkness without negative effects. However she only finds an odd-looking object lies in a heap, at the foot of the throne, looking more like discarded scraps of old, mottled leather made of human skin than anything else. She sends messages back to Brin.
Ana and Brin look around their sides for clues. They find faded hieroglyphs. Ana does a ritual to read them but some of the words are too faded to read.
“Praise to the Bloody Ones, of fanged missing word and fire word. I submit before thee – a [missing words x3] wrath, a whisper of [missing words x2].”
They tell the phrase they have to Margaret and she recalls what the mummified head told her.
“Praise to the Bloody Ones, of fanged mouth and fire eyes. I submit before thee – a vessel of your wrath, a whisper of your vengeance.”
The darkness fades for everyone who says it. Margaret walks back to others. As Margaret walks back through she can see the alcoves on the other sides of the room contains a bulbous toad and a hybrid humanoid bat like creature. Though what really catches Margaret's eye in the centre of the room is a skull looking down on the room. The ground is finely-worked engraving on the floor that depicts a scene showing the accursed temple in the background while an invading army is decimated by blazing meteors and thunderous strokes of lightning from the sky. On the ground, the earth has opened up into wide chasms to swallow up entire legions of screaming men.
Everyone says the prayer and crosses to the room with the throne. She points out the skin to the group and they leave it be. Brin and Ana search the throne and find nothing. Brin leads the group to the right and pokes his head in to see the room. This dank-smelling chamber is partially collapsed and one corner is filled with heaped, fallen stones. The walls are painted with faint, peeling frescoes that appear to show other buildings and features around the temple. A handful of old wooden barrels, smeared and sealed with tar, fill another corner of the room and an old font – once used to bathe and anoint sacrifices – dominates the center of this chamber. The font is long empty and now only contains a hideous, mottled, non-monstrous black slime that clings to the bottom. In addition, 5 disheveled and badly-decayed zombies can be found here, lazily slumped on walls or haphazardly draped over fallen stones.
Brin tries to signal this to the group. Margaret has an idea and whispers it to Jamal in front of him. It is passed down the line:
Margaret - Get the zombies' attention and then pull them back this way
Jamal - We wish to get the zombies attention and have them chase us this way
Tarhun - We want the zombies to fancy us and come chase us this way
It is passed to Ana who is confused by the phrasing and casts thaumaturgy to make a big clap before running away, pulling Brin with her. They ready themselves for the zombies to file out of the room and attack them. They notice quickly these zombies are unusally sturdy and smell very bad. They knock Jamal, Ubek and Tarhun out. The group makes sure to heal them during the fight and eventually defeat the zombies.
The group retreats back downstairs to the secret space they explored before to rest. They decide to finish up here for the day. Ana heals people up the best she can with beacon of hope, her spell slots and wand. Afterwards she takes the time to scribe a scroll of detect magic.
Just before getting ready to set up the dome, Margaret heads back to where the toads attacked them to try and cast sending. During this process, she accidently turns herself into a gaseous form. When she reforms, she finds she is not where she had just been standing. Instead she is kneeling in front of The faceless Idol of Azari. She sees in the bowl is the feather token of swan boat is in the bowl, dissolving. The feeling of being weighed down lifts and all the curses she had been afflicted of disappear. She is grateful no one was able to see that.
Margaret tries again, but once again fails. This time she makes the totem poles to the East and West of her bow to her with the magical fallout of failing the spell. The third, and last attempt makes the area icy. She returns to the group and puts up the dome. At 9pm she and Ana take the first watch with Jeriam and Brin following at 11.
21st of Anarire 1545
Jamal, Ubek, and Tarhan all have peaceful watches. The party is up and ready to go at 5am. They head back up the room that had the zombies to imspect the barrels, but upon hearing liquid in them, they decide to just leave them be. They continue South.
This chamber once served as some kind of hallowed repository of important records and prized knowledge. There is a doorway in the north wall and the southeast corner of the room opens up into an open air chute that leads both down and skyward, giving way to a dangerous earthen shaft on the ground floor. The wooden racks that once lined the walls of this room were destroyed a long time ago, either by the passage of time or the various plants, roots and vines that crawl across the walls and unstable-looking ceiling. Fungus and mold have run rampant, and bits of hanging moss descend from the ceiling. Bits of shattered pottery – once vividly painted and showing life in and around the temple – lie scattered about the floor, along with odd, haphazard piles of molded and time-worn wooden tablets. The walls and ceiling are a bit damp from the moisture emanating from the cenote on the ground floor below, allowing the plants and vines to grow thicker and more rampant.
Ana and Margaret look around the room, using detect magic to help them. They carefully go through the paper, stone tablets and collect everything still readable which takes about an hour. They also find a magical book. Jamal and Margaret use comprehend languages to sort the information, looking specifically for Tephu information. They find some and put it aside to read later. Ana identifies the magical book before help Margaret and Jamal.
A +1 Arcane Grimoire with the following spells:
Level 1:
Sleep
Shield
Witch Bolt
Identify
Silvery Barbs
Ice Knife
Magic Missile
Catapult
Alarm
Expeditious Retreat
Cause Fear
Level 2:
Mystul's Magic Aura
Borrowed Knowledge
Nathair's Mischief
Mind Spike
Locate Object
Flaming Sphere
Enlarge/Reduce
Warding Wind
Level 3:
Slow
Fast friends
Blink
Magic Circle
Speak with Dead
Hypnotic Pattern
Feign death
Level 4:
Storm Sphere
Summon elemental
Summon Greater Demon
Divination
Brin, Jeriam, Tarhun and Ubek provide security and keep an eye out for trouble. By 9am they have finished sorting and quickly read the stone tablets. They are a prayer book. It starts off being dedicated to Vorynn and Masela. They are heavily damaged and vandalised. They change to being for Azari. They are about not being content with your own family but making and claiming your own by force. High Priestess should offer themselves up to become his bride and those worthy are chosen and given great boons. His warriors should step and become paladins. A rallying call to kill the gods, because they can be killed, just like their mother.
Afterwards they go to check the other side of the building and find large hive nests, 6 in total. This chamber is partially collapsed, though spreading vines, creeping vegetation and thick roots seem to hold everything in place. Several small 5' diameter holes in the west wall allow shafts of sunlight to show through. The floor here once bore a stylized engraving of some sort of river scene, but the scattered debris and vegetation have damaged or obscured most of it. Margaret spots something shiny in the rubble.
Brin uses his ki to wrap the party in shadow so he, Ana and Margaret can grab the shiny objects. There is a longsword, a silver raven and a silver ewer fashioned to resemble a fish spouting water. They take the things and back up, looking over the longsword in case it could be used in a battle to help them. It is offered to Tarhun who takes it with great honour. He mistakenly thinks he has been knighted as a result.
They head back to the library room and head up the stairs. Brin finds there are no traps but the ceiling above them in fragile, so when they go up they will need to be careful with how they move.
This ancient chamber is 15' long and 30' wide. The floor here is slightly buckled and uneven, and the walls are painted in once-vivid images depicting the life and subsequent un-life of the Mummy Bride. Horned and devilish-looking gods are seen billowing forth from the bowels of the cracked earth, clouded in black smoke and engaged in acts of brutal depravity with their worshipers. One peeling fresco depicts the Mummy Bride being dragged by an evil-looking, jet black, six-armed figure into an ominous looking, skull-faced cave, only to emerge swathed in funerary wrappings and wearing a gilded feathered skull-like headdress of gold.
The north wall of this chamber is dominated by a large stone mechanism, consisting of a circular doorway carved with frightening images, a huge circular stone painted black positioned to the left, touching the northwest corner and a long, grooved track along the north wall. The circular stone doorway is heavily engraved, and depicts a blazing sun in its center, swathed in flaking gold leaf and meticulously worked with images of feathered serpents and grinning skulls. Jaguar-faced demons cavort with giant toads and devilish-looking bats, dragging screaming captives off to their doom.
They decide to only have one person on the floor at a time due to its fragile nature. Brin tries to roll the door but it won't budge. The prayer doesn't open the door here. A closer examination of this door shows no discernible lock or handle, and apparently no way to open it. However, cleverly hidden in the carven mouth of one of the images is a small star-shaped hole. Brin goes back to the group and tells them about. Margaret remember the red gem in the statue downstairs on the ground floor that they left alone due to spotting traps.
They head back down there and prepare themselves as they take the gem. Compartments on the statues open and swarms of severed hands crawl out to attack the party. They only suffer very minor damage before slaying all the hands. Afterwards, they head back up to the top floor. Brin slides the star gem into the slot and opens the door with Tarhun's help. Brin looks into the new space. This hall is 40' long and 20' wide, serving as the final resting place for the accursed Mummy Bride, her tomb-guardians and her fabled treasure. The southern end of the floor is slightly buckled and the ceiling is crawling with vines, roots and bits of hanging moss. The walls are painted in cracked and peeling frescoes depicting the unholy gods of the pyramid, taking delight in various acts of brutality and decadence. Small upright tombs line the east and west walls and a larger tomb dominates the northern wall.
The eight small, 4' high upright tombs lining both the east and west walls are each filled with a dried, shrunken, halfling-sized mummy, its eyes and mouth sewn shut, clutching an obsidian tipped spear in one hand and a wicked-looking obsidian shortsword in its other. These small mummies are each painted with long-dried and peeling pigments, denoting some sort of special status that they enjoyed in life.
The actual tomb of the Mummy Bride is set into the north wall and is a full 10' wide and 5' deep. Her meticulously-carved stone sarcophagus has been skillfully worked to resemble how she looked in life – radiant and beautiful, with a feathered headdress upon her brow and a serpent-headed staff across her breast.
Brin jumps the remaining distance of the buckling floor but the floor is not in good condition. Everyone else careful walks across the weakened floor. They discuss the room and the likelihood of fighting undead and how they should do it anyway instead of retreating. Brin really wants to punt the head of something that attacks him down the stupid amount of stairs they walked up to get to the top of this pyramid.
Before Brin could properly approach the sarcophagus to do just that, the lid is knocked off and a long dead woman sits up. She turns and looks directly at Margaret and calls her a bitch. When this woman speaks, it's like she is speaking in all tongues all at once. So each person hears it in each language they know, at the same time. As she stands, all of the halfing sarcophagi open as well. Margaret feigns innocence. The bride summons a snake as the group prepares for combat as she is not amused with Margaret's response.
Notes
