Gameplay

With a sharp word and quick wave Thomas motions the workers to step aside so his boss would have a better view. He puts a cigarette between his lips and lights it. The cigarettes were hand rolled, but not by Thomas. He buys them at a market stall near his rooms from an old man with a huge pearly smile and yellow stained fingers. The lighter is cheap, and second hand. The silver plating has worn through to bare steel on the corners and it is badly dented. He closes his eyes and for moment, and he is almost able to pretend that the grains of sand hitting his face are flakes of snow. He breaths out his lungful of tar and the moment is over.

His clothes are creased and rumpled, which could have been from the work of the day, but equally could have been because Thomas had slept in them last night. His face is sun scoured and his eyes are bloodshot. Only two things about Thomas looked well cared for. His boots, which are supple and well oiled and the curved fighting knife that shines in the sun on his belt. The sheathe is polished silver and elaborately decorated with gold wire inlay. The handle is rich dark wood, and looks worn with use. The knife is beautiful, slim, and elegant. Everything Thomas is not. It looks very out of place on his cracked leather belt.

Thomas has a crooked nose and a cauliflower ear that spoke of someone who had been engaged in hand to hand combat many times. He might have been handsome once. He had the chin and jaw of a handsome man. But the effects of life has made his face a craggy ruin.

He looks over to his boss, waiting for orders.

Dr. Robert S. Whittaker was sitting at a corner camp across the excavation site, his eyes trailing the lines in a thick book. Sweat trickled from his temple in long lines, making a soggy trail mixed with the dust and sand grains. He absentmindedly itched and dabbed the sweat beads with his handkerchief. They were very close to unearthing the structure and claiming whatever was within. Since the discovery of the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen, this has become a literal 'gold rush' in the Academia. Whoever could find another got rights to study and access to funding. This was his chance to be a part of it. Will it be another Pharaoh? Or will it be a priest? May be a scribe?

Their group consisted of an odd motley crew, but he did find an archaeologist among them. Atleast someone will understand the inner meanings instead of salvaging and selling whatever they could unearth. He heard the voice of Thomas Ackerman, who was doing some sort of security work. Snapping the book close, he rose from his seat and took his writing pad. It seemed like the labor crew had finally cleared the entrance. It was time to explore the mysterious structure. He drank water from his canteen, anticipation rising, thinking about the prospect of becoming the first person to explore a virgin tomb.

Robert was wearing a dark earthly brown coat that had gathered a healthy coat of sand and dust. He scratched at his handlebar-style moutsache and rubbed it clean. His dark ash-brown hair was dirty from all the sand, but it was too late to manage that. Cleaning his thick-rimmed spectacles and lighting up his smoking pipe, he walked towards the entrance of the structure. On the way, he nodded affirmatively at the members of the labor crew before coming close to steps that descended into the stone slab doorway. Finally, he could put his knowledge to some practical use.

Lady Bishop steps forward and gives a curt nod to Thomas. He may be more rough than her usual acquaintances, but he certainly seems to get results since she arrived in Cairo and escorted her to the expedition site. She remembers when one of the beggars became particularly aggressive, but Thomas gave the man a quick cuff and scattered them away. Of course she had checked with her contacts and his background, discovering his dishonorable discharge. However, such a man would be more willing to work for a woman if he had a hard time finding other contracts. Especially if the money was right and a chance of a ticket away from Egypt.

She opens her parasol and peers down the steps to the entryway. She is surprisingly tall, barely an inch shorter than the men she is working with, but time is clearly catching up with her around her eyes and midsection.

As Thomas smokes and Dr. Whittaker's pipe arrives with its own unique scent, the lingering tobacco smell reminds her of the cigarette case tucked away in her reticule. She recalls clandestine letters, late night visits, and the scent of rose perfume, but the memory fades quickly as sand and dust pelt at her even with the veil over her face.

She turns to the professor and gives him a curt nod as well. She had spent years learning and researching, but not on languages as would be expected so the professor was an invaluable addition to the party. So many had already ventured ahead and been snapped up by other rich patrons and the ones left behind were loathe to leave their comfortable armchairs for the heat they face now. She did wonder if the excitement in his eyes as the tomb entrance comes into view is more a glint of ambition than exhilaration, but she quickly turns back to the prize they have been working towards.

"Ready to put that brain to work Dr. Whittaker?"

Without waiting for an answer, she turns back to the ex-soldier.

"Thank you Ackerman. Let us get out of this sun," and she waves an ivory gloved hand to move the stone slab, opening the entrance.

Eugen was busy carrying out surveying work. Concentrating, he looked through the small binoculars mounted on a tripod, read directions from his compass and transferred the results to his sketch map.

All of a sudden he heard excited chatter, which happened every now and then when the workers discussed things with Ackermann that didn't suit them or which they rejected out of superstition. But then he heard Ackerman instructing the workers to be quiet and a strange silence filled the excavation site...

Eugen interrupts his work and looks up. He can see that Dr Whittaker had also stepped out of the shadow of his canopy and is looking over at Ackerman. Lady Bishop stands next to him Bishop.

Instead of being in the pit, shovelling and clearing away the rubble, the work party is gathered at the edge of the pit, gazing down in awe.

He hopes so much that they had found something this time and that the excitement in the air is in vain again.

In an unladylike manner, Lady Bishop snaps her parasol shut and eagerly rushes down the steps and into the darkness.

Finally, our hard work and investments are finally paying off!

"Well, I say..."

Suddenly, cries from outside and then a loud *BOOM*!A high-pitched whimper echoes in the chamber.

Thomas had been waiting for one of the local workmen to fetch an oil lamp when the Lady Bishop rushed down the stairs. Cursing under his breath he followed close behind her. As soon as the slab slams back into place Thomas unthinkingly crouches into a fighting position and draws his knife. The gentle hiss of the blade against the sheath is drowned out by the reverberating boom of the slab. He stares into the dark vainly, desperately wish he had that lamp.

Robert followed Lady Bishop down, wondering what he might discover within this pristine tomb. However, the curse of this locked tomb seemed to have answered their intrusion. As the sound echoed from the crash of the massive stone slab, he turned back and screamed, "NOO!"

After the scream and darkness, it dawned on him that he along with his companions were trapped in this nascent tomb. Was this going to be their end? Surely not such! Lady Bishop had hired all those laborers; they will definitely try to lift or break open the stone. Many must have not received their pay yet. What he needed right now was a light!

Robert spoke out, "I hope everyone is alright? Lady Bishop? I heard you. Are you hurt? Mr. Chornyi and Mr. Ackerman? I can't see a damn thing. We need a light."

After catching up with the others, Eugen follows them down the stone steps. He would have preferred it if they had taken some photographs and descriptions first.

But Lady Bishop did not know the usual procedure, closed her parasol and hurried down the steps with Ackermann. Dr Whittaker followed them, and so eventually did Eugen.

* * *

As he is the last to enter, he feels how much cooler it is here. But the air tastes pale and stale. His eyes have no time to adjust to the darkness of the chamber and before he can do anything, it goes pitch black with a deafening crash.

Eugen takes a leap forwards.

‘Whoaa!’ he shouts in a shrill tone.

* * *

‘I ... I ...
My bag. Candles,’ he answers Dr. Whittaker, but his heartbeat is pounding in his ears.

He fiddles awkwardly with his satchel.

Robert nodded at Eugen when the room was finally illuminated by the candlelight. "Excellent work, Mr. Chornyi. It is my folly; I should have brought a lantern with me. In the depths of this tomb, a light source with oil would have served us all. Do you have more candles perhaps?"

Robert moved closer to the wall depicting images and hieroglyphs. He remembered that a tomb always had another entrance through which they might be able to exit. However, often those were hidden in riddles of images, depictions, and stories written on the walls. The oppressed air of the tomb and the flickering candlelight were a grim reminder of how little time they had to find out this exit. Bringing out his writing pad, he started drawing the symbols, trying to understand what it meant about the original resident of the tomb.

OOC:

That's a steep price, but this is a one shot. So, I guess why not?

"Thank you, Robert. Ahm ... Doctor Whittaker.
This is one of four candles.

Any idea how to get out of here? I can't hear any working sound from behind the slab.", says Eugen.

He tries to hold the candle so that as much light is shed as possible and keeps looking for a way out.

Eugen hands over the candle to Thomas and puts his ear on the slab.

Robert made hasty notes as he continued to scratch the symbols. Moments passed when suddenly he realized that he had translated the section of the wall. Turning toward others, he sighed, "I don't think we can find help from this side of the entrance. We surely have to go and find some other way out."

Lady Bishop is revealed in the weak candlelight, unflatteringly plopped on the ground with watery eyes. She removes a lacy handkerchief and dabs at her eyes then looks forlornly at the others.

"N-no. They will lift that slab momentarily, surely…"

As the candle flares to light any who look at Thomas see a wild faraway look in his eyes, and the moment passes. He takes in the scene and slowly stands out of his combat stance, but doesn't sheathe the knife. He takes the candle proffered to him. He walks to Lady Bishop and stands awkwardly for a moment, caught between sheathing the knife, or putting down the candle. He jams the candle into a crack in the stone wall and offers a hand to Lady Bishop. When done he takes the candle back into his left hand and surveys the scene around him.

Lady Bishop just stares sadly at Ackerman as he awkwardly stands by her, but readily takes the hand offered and uses her parasol to assist her standing. The human contact seems to wake her back up and she quickly starts to fluff and dust off her skirts soon after.

"Goodness! Well. I am not going to stand and wait for them to open the entrance! I would rather sit."

With the bravery of fools, she begins to walk towards the back of the chamber to the furniture, searching for a cushy chair.

Robert warily eyed Lady Bishop and said, "M'Lady, I think it would be unwise to wait for our rescue. We have no idea when and if the excavation team would be able to remove the stone. I think if it took longer, we might run out of air and perish here. I suggest we try to find an alternate route of exit. If my memory serves right, we can definitely find some other way out."

He turned to Eugen, "Mr. Chornyi, you can enlighten us about this matter. Isn't there supposed to be secret routes out of the tomb or pyramids?"

Finally he turned to Thomas, "Mr. Ackerman, would you like to explore further into the tomb? You must have already understood that without the help of some explosives, like dynamite, we won't be able to remove this obstruction quickly. Then again, that would destroy this prized tomb, and we wouldn't want that."

"Oh my, if that's the case Professor, perhaps we can investigate this hole over here? There are also some symbols on this archway and a beautiful chest..."

Lady Bishop's shoulders sag a little as she realizes there is nothing cushy to sit on, but she investigates the chest to see if it would be suitable to sit on. Is there a lock on it keeping her from some nice cushions to rest upon?

Eugen informs the others about the cracks in the wall, he is not strong enough to do anything with and then follows the others to the end of the hallway.

Robert heard Lady Bishop and turned, "Symbols in the archway, M'lady? Let me see. They might have something more to say about where we are or what room is in the next area."

He proceeded to move close to the archway that Lady Bishop pointed and started looking at the writings.

Thomas holds the candle high trying to get a better look around.Edit:

Eugen tries to light up another match to pick up and lght the candle again.

"Careful ..", he says - more to himself than to his comrades - to calm himself.

Then he says:
"We're not the first to examine this tomb. And as I can't see any dead bodies right here, I assume, there's a way out.
We just have to think carefully.

I suggest the following:

Examine the end of the hallway and examine the cracks behind the frescoes.
Last but not least: the candles won't last forever. We also should look for torches. "

He ties to cast a smile and give a positive vibe to others.

A derisive snort escapes from the noble as she scoffs at the occult symbols of warning over the archway. She had seen so many through her studies that it would have been odd to NOT see those symbols.

Ignoring the signs of warning, she moves out of the way to let Dr. Whittaker get a better look. As she waits for him to analyze the archway, she slowly begins to reach towards the chest. After all, such a beautiful chest must have something valuable inside or, at the very least, some royal cushions when the light suddenly goes out.

Lady Bishop's whimpers can be heard again until Eugen re-lights the candle.

Now wary of opening the chest too, she takes a better look at the table.

"Mr. Chornyi, if this table is not very valuable, perhaps we can take it apart to create makeshift torches?"

She then perches on the very edge of the chest for now, waiting to hear what the experts recommend.

Thomas picks up the candle he had dropped and gives Lady Bishop a sheepish look.

"Sorry m'lady Bishop," he says. He walks to Eugen and relights his candle from the one now burning.
"I'll take a look see at what we've got here." Thomas crouches in front of the opening chipped out of the archway. He thrusts the candle in his left hand toward the opening, keeping his knife ready in his right, and peers into the hole.

Robert went close to the section where both Eugene and Thomas were working. If there was a way to the other side of the room, it should be here. Was he missing something? Turning to Lady Bishop, he spoke, "This is a tomb of a Pharaoh. So, I must say, we have a great find already. However, the sign of prior excavation, as noted by Mr. Chornyi, is concerning. We should tread carefully here, M'Lady and not touch anything out of whim. From the heiroglyphs that I deciphered, it mentions something about warding against the evil and who would descerate the sacred tomb. But, I guess it has already been tampered with by our previous excavators."

When Eugen peers through the hole, he recognises all kinds of objects in the flickering light of the candle.

‘Some kind of treasure trove!’ he exclaims, almost blowing out the candle.
Then he comes to his senses and carefully holds the candle through the opening to check the room for foul gases.

‘I can't say who it belongs to, but we're in a well-appointed tomb. I can make out some artefacts. A great thing for Egyptology! Burial objects, intact burial objects! I wonder why the people before us didn't take them?

We really need to keep records; note down what we see and where. This simply has to be analysed before we go any further!

Dr Whittaker, can you take a look inside too? Maybe you can see a cartouche so we know whose tomb we're dealing with. The previous warnings have given no indication of this?’

Eugen is delighted and excited about the find. With a gleam in his eye, he forgets the current situation for a moment and wants to start cataloguing immediately with his brush.

Robert could understand the excitement of the archaeologist. Even he himself was excited when he found out that this was a tomb of pharaoh. However, the most important thing was they were surviving here with borrowed time. Who knows how much air remained in the confines of this tomb? He moved closer to the area and crouched down to get a better look.

"I understand, Mr. Chornyi. There will definitely be some valuable artifacts here. This is the tomb of a pharaoh after all. However, we must be careful. In order to get a better look, I will need some more light. Mr. Ackerman, can I have a little bit of light through this hole? We can crawl and enter the next room also. Would you like to accompany me?"

‘It would be my greatest honour,’ says Eugen. Then he bows his head in thanks and points in the direction of the chamber.
‘After you, sir.’

Lady Bishop stands up and peers around as the party gathers about the hole to the next room.

Treasure! Then there must be even more treasure and secrets further in!

She stays out of the way as Dr. Whittaker and Mr. Chornyi move through the opening. Before she goes to follow, she takes one last look at the chest. Does it have the same symbols of warning like the archway?

Lady Bishop is about to follow after the others, when she takes one last look at the ornate chest. There are no silly warnings on this one and what if this is the one chest that has the secret she has been searching for?

With a furtive look back to the others, she marches back to the chest and holds her parasol in both hands tightly. With a deep breath, she then jams the pointy metal end under the lid and levers it open! She tries to stay on the side of the chest so she doesn't get a mouth full of dust or whatever comes out when it opens.

Thomas bars the entrance with his right forearm.
"Hang on gents," he says.
"Don't you think it strange that someone was here before but left all this just lying about? Something about this don't smell right," Thomas looks around.
"No, something about this don't smell right at all."

Edit:

After peering through the hole in the wall and seeing nothing Thomas lowers his arm.
"This don't make no sense," he says. He shrugs, and then crawls through the opening into the next chamber, rising to his feet and holding the candle aloft to search for a possible exit.

Lady Bishop purses her lips at the nearly empty contents of the chest. She takes a bead as a souvenir and quickly trots back to take up the rear entering the next room.

Robert crawled through the tight hole and stood up in amazement when he saw all the contents of the room. "This room is filled to the brim with artifacts. It looks like an offering chamber for the dead. However, I am not sure. What do you think, Mr. Chornyi?" He turned and walked closer to the walls to check if there were more murals about any information on the current room. While he was checking on the wall, he peeked through the crashed plaster wall to see what was present on the other side.

Thomas takes in the room before him. The artifacts hold little interest to him. Money won't do him any good if they can't find a way back out. He walks to the entrance of the open archway and looks in.

Lady Bishop claps her hands in delight once they enter the next room. She quickly identifies the couch and moves to sit upon it, taking a moment to drink in their accomplishment before worrying about how they were to get back out again.

"Oh, wonderful job gentlemen! Bonuses for everyone once we get to camp! Now we just have to find our way back."

Thomas looks around the room and into the next.

Eugen lifts his hand with the candle as high up as possible and looks around. Again, his focus shifts from the need to survive to the trained and exercised procedures of Archeology.

"Dr. Witthaker, I think we're in the so-called 'Antechamber' of this tomb. These are the gifts for a pleasent afterlife, but not precious in the usual sense. The layout of the rooms with the hallway and this room with it's contents reminds me of Ramsses the First's tomb, better known as KV6, found in 1817.
Also, the Annex" - and Eugen points to hole at the north side of the chamber - "is connected with a smaller side-tunnel. It's likely that we find canopic jars, more furniture, clothes and weapons there. But no treasures or Usheptis."

Eugen turns to the slab and makes a few steps towards it. In a distance that resembles a perfect triangle of the two statues and him, he stops dignified.

"Given the facts we know about that dynasty and it's architectures, we should find the burial chapter behind that slab. The two statues are the guards. Jackals, sent out by Anubis himself. Next to the burial chamberis the treasure chamber."

Eugen's chin touches his chest as he sighs deeply. He closes his eyes and shakes his head.

"These tombs usually only have one single entrance ..."

Robert nodded at the information given by Eugen, "Yes, Mr. Chornyi, I absolutely agree with you. If we consider the rooms in such an arrangement, then, as you said, the next room should be the burial place. Isn't that where the body is prepared by the priest of Anubis and then taken deep inside to the actual buriel chamber with sarcophagus? I agree with you regarding the canopic jars, the vessels that hold the removed organs. By that logic, we are then proceeding more inwards. However, I believe there should be an alternate route to exit. We must look for any mention of the pathway of Ra's blessing entering the blessed tomb."

He walked alongside Eugene to closely examine the two statues and whether there was any writing that he could decipher to get more information about the tomb.

"How wonderful to know I have the best men on the job."

Lady Bishop smiles at the two scholars working together to figure out a way to the next room. Having lounged enough, her curiosity gets the best of her and she follows after Thomas, on the lookout for occult symbols like she saw above the archway indicating important treasures and torches.

As Eugen realizes what's there in the dim light of his candle, he leaps backwards and screams.

"Whaaaaaa."

Robert heard the sudden scream from Eugen and came rushing to his side, "What happened, Mr. Chornyi?" He then turned to look at the two statues. What he saw almost drove out all the air from his lungs. "My goodness! By our Lord, what's this?"

"My Lady Bishop," says Thomas, moving between her and the entry way to the north corridor.
"What is in there appears to be dangerous. I fear something there proved fatal to a previous...explorer. Please allow me and the other experts you have hired to do our jobs, and keep you safe by examining the area first."

The noble lady has turned around and is heading into the annex when she hears the screams and shouts of Mr. Chornyi and Dr. Whittaker. She is frozen in place as Thomas whips towards her and the room she has just left with a knife in hand, glinting in the candlelight. She keeps her eyes on him and the knife as he passes by her to check that the others are safe. Her eyes snap back to his face as he addresses her and she tries to appear calm, despite feeling very much the opposite now.

"O-of course Mr. Ackerman. I feel quite useless though as I do not have the strength or knowledge that you all have. Perhaps I will search for more torches in the room we were just in then."

She side-eyes the knife still in his hand and scoots back to the treasure room and checks on the men they just left.

"Gentlemen, are you hurt?"

"I can't get paid and I can't get out of this hellish sandpit if she gets herself killed," Thomas thinks. Assuring himself that Lady Bishop isn't going to head down the corridor with the corpse and the...whatever the hell that was down there, he follows her, keeping her within arm's reach.

"What ... we ... there."

Eugen is speechless. Shocked by insight.

Robert almost stuttered, "HHHowww is this possibble? These were actual humans!?" He took a sharp intake of breath to calm himself and then checked the surroundings for any inscriptions.

Thomas follows Lady Bishop over to the other two men. He looks over the two corpses mounted in front of the closed archway.
"Steady on men," says Thomas from Lady Bishop's side.
"They're just mummies. The dead hold no horrors for the living. Besides, they're just the chaps we were looking for. They'll be worth quite a lot once we get them topside," Thomas tries to twist his face into a reassuring smile, but it comes out more like a pained grimace, as though his muscles were unfamiliar with the shape he was trying to form. His eyes have taken on a long stare, like he's barely seeing what's before him. Anyone who looks into his face can see a feral set to his jaw, and in his eyes the flash of blades, and gouts of gunfire from long ago.
"That's right. The dead hold no horrors for the likes of us." He says this quietly. Almost as to himself.Edit:

Eugen is still shocked. Though mummies of animals an people are common items, the very nature of the two guards has a different vibe.

His heart beats fast and a strange kind of fear touches his guts.

As Lady Bishop moves forward to check on the gentlemen, she now sees better in the candlelight the mummified, mutilated remains now acting as warnings of what is to come. She gasps in shock and puts a gloved hand over her mouth as she involuntarily jumps back and knocks a vase over by mistake.

Thomas moves closer to inspect the stone slab.
"What do you think gents? Seems like the real treasure would be behind this wouldn't it considering the," he waves the hand holding his knife to point to the mummified corpses, "er, security."
"Also I didn't see a way out in the northern passageway, so this might be our best bet."

Distracted from the gruesome sight by the vase breaking, Lady Bishop turns to the shards and absent-mindedly kicks them away from the group.

"W-well. It appears no one is hurt at least. Maybe there is something useful among this treasure to help us then..."

She moves to look through the room for torches or occult symbols indicating something valuable.

Eugen takes a deep breath (as far as the stuffy air allows to) through his nose. Chin up, chest out!, he thinks.

"We currently have two candles in use. I do have two more. Hence, I suggest the following:
We're trying to find a way out, which still our main goal, I guess. So, I'll take a look at that slab. When the third candle will be close to an end, we'll have to burn the furniture - but that might cost oxygen."

Then he goes close to the slab to inspect it.

The candle in one hand, he picks his small brush from his satchel and puts it between his lips. Then he picks his trowel and starts examining the joints and cracks.
Pushing the trowel into bigger cracks, switching tools, brushing off dust and sand …

Hearing a sharp intake of breath from Lady Bishop, Thomas turns and sees her bleeding hand.
"May I take a look at that Lady Bishop? I've patched quite a number of scrapes."
Thomas moves to look at the Lady's hand, waiting for her confirmation before proceeding.

Robert watched Eugen work on the wall and then moved to the north side to check on the other room. He wanted to see what other things was present in this chamber.

"Dr. Whittaker? Are you okay?, Eugen asks over bis shoulder.

Then he says:"We're so lucky to have you here, Thomas! Aren't we, M'Lady?"

A bit unsure about the decorum, but also feeling a little faint from the surprising amount of blood pouring out of her hand, Lady Bishop allows Thomas to remove her glove and bandage up her hand.

"Goodness yes, we are very lucky to have you here with us Mr. Ackerman. I did not quite know what to do when I cut myself over there. I usually observe..."

She looks a little despondent upon the mess she has made and looks around at what she can be useful with. She tries to see if there are openings behind the plaster in the treasure room like Mr. Chornyi saw by the entrance.

Robert nodded to Eugen, "I am a bit shaken from this bizarre revelation. I wasn't expecting statues made from human bodies. However, this has enlightened me, and I wish to explore the north room."

He then looked at Thomas working on Lady Bishop, "An unfortunate occurence, M'Lady, but this is a rough and strange place. You must have missed the sharp object that has caused you such a wound. Be careful about what you touch. Mr. Ackerman, now that you are done with the bandaging, may I have the candle? I am thinking about exploring that side room. You too can accompany me if you want."

"Something isn't right in that room Doctor," says Thomas. He looks around sees the near impossibility of moving the huge slab Eugen is working on. He sighs.
"But I suppose options are slim. Right then, maybe you can figure something out." Thomas raises the candle, grips his knife tightly and motions for the doctor to move toward the North passageway.

Robert's eyebrows furrowed, "What do you mean, Mr. Ackerman? Did you see something there?"

Robert was fascinated by the murals and eagerly read the writings to himself. He was quite surprised to see the corpse and felt unsettled by the lingering shadows of the inverted ankhs. Moving towards the corpse, he examined it from the distance and crouched to check on the satchel.

Lady Bishop has failed to find any openings behind plaster like Eugen found earlier, but she is delighted to assist the archaeologist with his search any way she can. She gives the statues a side eye when she gets too close and is very careful that her skirts do not brush the corpses.

"What did you find Mr. Chornyi?"

"To my surprise I only found out, that the slab is so well-built in terms of size and craftsmanship, that it fits perfectly. But there are no signs, no reliefs, no mechanisms that I can see.""Dynamite? That's great! But very dangerous as well. Anybody knows how to handle it?", he glances to Thomas Ackerman.
"Who is that person? And what does the journal say?"

Robert was curious about the contents of the satchel, but when he found the passport and the journal, he was quite elated. Rifling through the passport and journal, he attempted to gather all the information about the owner. "It seems to be someone who must have came before us for this tomb. The dynamite also proves that."

The writings were difficult to decipher, and Robert was astonished that he couldn't make any sense of it. He tried bring it closer to the candle flame and read in close light.

Eugen hardly understands the German words Robert is citing. And while he listens to Robert, his eyes run over the chamber he has not visited yet.

"I need light to inspect the walls. There are paintings. I'm gonna light the 3rd candle now."

Eugen walks to the mural on the north side of the chamber and picks the 3rd candle and lights it up with a match.

"Let's see what we have here ..."

Lady Bishop urges Mr. Chornyi back to the light source and the others when she gasps loudly upon seeing the dead man. She stands frozen at the sight for a moment, but as another candle is lit, she is brought back to the present. Now, her eyes are drawn to the shrine and how it seems to be reaching towards them. Is this what she has been searching for?

Scared from the pictures on the wall, Eugen gasps. Again, a strange kind of fear reaches out for his heart.

His eyes glaze over and Eugen stares into nothingness. He's sort of paralyzed ...

Robert was deep in thought as he relayed the contents of the journal. The children of Sphinx? Was that a cult? Were they operating then and is continuing now? Was the accident of their entrapment really natural or contrived? But his pondering was cut short by the sound and clang. He looked up, "What was that?"

"A jackal's head, on a man's body.
Black tendrils tear the world apart.
Demise in floods so bloody,
An insane god's manner of art.

Hihihihiii."
, he rhymes.

Eugen is stressed, just a step closer to lose it, as he can't cope with the situation. Locked up in a tomb, dim light that slowly will vanish, grotesque corpses, pictures of unknown terrors and death.

And now these noises.

"Let's hope that something just of fell over. Hihi."

With a gesture he wipes the figures of the shrine into his satchel, then he pulls out his trowel and wields it like a sword.

Robert eyed Eugen with a worried glance. He placed a hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed it. "Mr. Chornyi, get a hang of yourself. We will definitely get out of this place. Don't worry."

"Sure, sure."

Eugen nods.

The shrine looks like something that would interest Mr. Chornyi and she turns to ask him to look at what she has found, but sees him seemingly enthralled with the mural. She turns back and tries to recall anything she learned from him or her book when Dr. Whittaker exclaims he has translated the final pages and then a CLANG!

She gasps and holds up her parasol as though ready to brain whatever is arriving, but puts her parasol down again as Mr. Chornyi starts to sing a song only he understands. As Dr. Whittaker puts a steadying hand on him, she nods along.

"Yes Mr. Chornyi, that is probably just the workers finally getting the entrance open. Right?"

She looks at the others for reassurance.

With no reassurance in sight, Lady Bishop's shoulders and face droop with despair. She turns back to the shrine hoping for one last piece of inspiration.

Thomas cocks his head at the sound.