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They also found a secret door in the other wall across from the one in here. They open it, and it leads to the Crypt of Kota-ef-nitek. There is another musty chamber here, a tomb for a haggard corpse laying on a central slab and its long dead attendants slumped against the walls. Suddenly, their lifeless eyes turn on Alzar. They spring forward and he tries to control them. He controls the ghouls automatically but there are two other things here. At first he suspects ghasts, which are often found with ghouls, but he can usually tell them from ghouls, since he is an expert in such things. He makes a Necrology roll and knows that he has never heard of these. One of them screams loudly and Alzar manages to control them, barely. There are 5 ghouls and 2 of these other creatures. Everybody lost a level when the Agarat screamed. (They will be restored in 1 turn). That’s a nasty undead.
5 ghouls with 9 hp.
2 agarats with 25 and 22 hp, AC4, no paralysis, screams are cumulative with other agarats, can only scream once every ten minutes or so. Turned and controlled as Spectre
Alzar will have the ghouls lead and keep the agarats in the back, out of harm’s way. He wants to leave with at least one intact for studying. They search the chamber. The body on the central slab has:
Sandals inlaid with Turquoise – 620 gp as a pair
Necklace of Coral and Jade Beads – 760 gp
They find a secret door in the chamber and there are two doors here. One heads back to the structures and Alzar confirms that it was the third slab. The secret door is opened. They open another door a short walk behind the secret door and it opens into a T shaped room. There is a life sized crystal skull glaring at the door fro a stone plinth and there are two other plinths with large crystal vials. Alzar views the Gem of Seeing. Nothing is seen. An inspecting shows that the two vial likely have potions in them. The skull is worth maybe 2500 gp. Alzar orders everyone out and a ghoul picks up a vial, and there is a loud whistling sound. The ghoul replaces it and the sound stops. It picks it up again, and the sound starts again. The ghoul moves away and the whistle increases in pitch significantly. It is returns and the pitch lowers until dropped back and it stops again.
Alzar orders everyone into the crypt and the ghoul grabs the skull and runs into the corridor as fast as possible. At 20 feet from the plinth, there is an explosion in pitch and both potions exploded, but the skull survived.
Crystal Skull – 2500 gp
A search finds nothing further. They open the other door and enter a long corridor with the continuing rhythm of drum beats. After ten minutes, they near the end of the passage. It arrives at a door, which opens easily. They must be deep in the volcano and mountain now. The drums got louder as they moved closer, and now are quite loud.
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