Bancroft and his friends returned to the barrowmaze and inspected two barrows to the far north. Each burial mound had a pair of bronze doors. One set was ornate, bearing symbols of Nergal that matched those on a freestanding pillar to the south; those doors resisted their attempts to open them. Careful inspection revealed a pentagram that could be shifted to reveal a keyhole, but they had no key and any attempts to force the doors resulted in magical repair.
The other set of doors further north were plain bronze and opened with crowbars. Selfa called upon her goddess for light and the party descended. To the left and right of the entrance stood large statues of female forms with rubies for eyes. Fearing traps, they searched carefully and removed four rubies, each worth about 20 gp, using a rope ladder brought for a different barrow.
Further along the corridor, two more statues loomed and a third blocked further progress; that one had onyx eyes. Suspecting a trap, the party searched for almost an hour and found two hidden exits from the area, one to the north and one to the west. The northern statue had a pipe exiting from its mouth — clearly a trap — so they removed the rubies from the other statues before taking further steps. By the time they finished, watchers outside called a warning: giant scorpions had noticed them.
Helfen, watching outside, tried to lead a scorpion away from the group — brave but perhaps unwise. Gravelgnasher slipped inside and tried to close the bronze doors, but they were heavy and unwieldy and could not hold the scorpion out for long.
Seeking a way out, Bancroft opened the hidden door to the west and found a large chamber filled with giant rats. He slammed the door and called upon Sylvanus for protection. Selfa’s light failed and their single torch sputtered. Screams and dragging noises came from the southern corridor as scorpions stabbed into Gravelgnasher and dragged his body further into the barrow.
With scorpions from the south, rats at the west door, and the torch failing, Bancroft realized his position was untenable. He abandoned the door and moved to the northern statue, hoping the scorpions and the rats would fight and weaken each other. Selfa lagged and the rats swarmed her; she died screaming as they overran her. Bancroft dragged her still body a few steps north and passed through the hidden door just in time as another party member slammed it shut.
Behind the closed door the scorpion and the rats fought in the dark while the party tended their wounds. Bancroft prayed to Sylvanus and was able to restore some life to Gravelgnasher. The hidden room proved hexagonal with an altar on the north wall bearing two bronze figurines, likely valuable and possibly trapped. The party decided to wait out the conflict and remain quiet, planning to deal with whichever creature remained.
