Chapter 3.2 - Return to the Golden Grain Inn

As Arya gasps and wheezes, trying to breathe shallowly with miraculously-mended-but-still-bruised lungs, Morton dramatically moves to one of the side passages that dead-ends in a dirt wall. "So we ignore these two subterrain passage ways..." Realizing that it is genuinely a dirt wall, he moves to other as he continues talking. "...that are right in front of us which may go to a lower level and perhaps a passage way to this temple you speak of?" He reaches out and touches the wall here, but this one is not dirt...rather it is canvas stretched across the passageway and cleverly painted to look like dirt. With a flourish, Morton pulls the stretched canvas aside, revealing a small room containing three chests. "Which is why we came here...in the first place...?" he says, trailing off. He had clearly been expecting stairs or a slope downward.

Ember has to duck a little to worm her way into the space, as the ceiling is much lower here. She examines the chests closely for traps or locks.

What were the chests for?

"Thank you, I - I'm fine." Arya dips her head graciously to the rock-hewn dwarf. She is grateful, both to the party for saving her life, and for the armor that hides all the unsightly bruising that must be marring her flawless olive skin.

Looking around further, Theran notices small pellets that he now realizes are compressed bones and fur in snake scat, evidence that the python had also been feeding on rats.

Ember takes the end of Lyrel's rope and ties a loop that she wraps around a chest. In so doing, she finds that these chests have handles on either side for easier carrying by one or two people. She threads the rope through the handles to reduce the likelihood that the rope would slip, ties a confident knot (the sort that she knows would carry her weight and the weight of all her gear), and steps back, straightening up.

Myrtha cocks an eyebrow at Lyrel at the "boys" remark as she spits on her hands and takes a hold of the rope. Despite his sarcasm, Chase pulls as heartily on the rope as Myrtha. This first chest - the one on the right - moves so easily that it falls over and they drag it out on its face. Myrtha and Chase grin at each other; either one of them could have easily pulled that weight on their own.
Nothing else obvious happens.

Untying the rope, Ember hunches back into the smaller space and ties the rope around the chest that had been in the middle. When she gives the all clear signal, Chase and Myrtha begin to pull. They find that this one is heavier, and does not fall over. But with the two of them pulling, it slides out fairly easily.
Nothing else obvious happens.

Arya tries to be helpful and attempts to untie the rope, but after a moment, when it becomes clear that it's going to take a while, Ember bats her delicate-but-strong hands away and unties her knot herself. She crawls back into the smaller space and ties the rope around the third chest, the one that had been on the left. Myrtha and Chase haul on the rope, and this time it takes real effort from both of them to move it. The chest gouges a shallow furrow in the packed dirt as it comes. The ranger's and the warrior's hands are hard and callused, but they still burn a little from the weight of pulling on the rope. It definitely would have been easier to lift the chest rather than drag it, but there is the concern for traps.
Nothing else obvious happens.