Not today…

The next four or so days pass while the group does a fair amount of head-scratching and investigating. It seems that all passageways have been bricked over (it is a tomb after all) and the talents of Bud Feaster are in great demand. The hobbit opens a number of doorways using Stoneshape, until Dalliance fashions a battering ram and the group whiles away the hours knocking down walls, making a hellacious amount of noise, and raising a cloud of dust. The good part about lurking out in the middle of the wilderness is that no one complains about the noise. Four of the doorways are marked with the elemental symbols. Air opens into a dank and musty room, Fire releases a cloud of methane gas – no open flames in the party supplies at the time.
Earth turns Lubbitch to stone, and Water opens a ‘pit’.
The stoned one is restored and the pit is ‘investigated’ by falling into it. At the top of the pit and at the bottom of the pit are two more sealed openings. The bottom door opens out onto an underground lake. Hmm. The top one is ignored for the moment in favor of the Water door. Everyone is ready for watery doom, but instead it is a cloud of light-sucking undeath. Humbar vanquishes it, and the group investigates further. Beyond is a door – instead of a sealed opening….
Passing through reveals a solid gold sarcophagus enshrined in a room of vilest depravity and reeking of eeeevil. Emor would feel at home here for sure. The troubled group decides to plunder the tomb and bashes the lid off the coffin – revealing a withered corpse. All around the periphery of the room are jars and bags and boxes and containers that radiate magic and make the most delightful money sounds when lifted. A looting break is called and the items worth taking are taken. It is during this time that the larvae (from breathing in the air of the Air room) hatch in the party’s lungs, prompting a round of worried head scratching and the reading of the instructions on the Keoghtom’s Ointment they purchased.
Onward, and the party batters down the last doorway, which is a bricked-over rockslide that empties a metric ton of rubble into the pit. A day later, Dalliance uses her Dig spell to empty the pit once more and the group descends to lakeside.
Spending a day on the lakeshore, Dalliance fashions a large canoe and the party sets off across the lake. On the far shore is the ubiquitous sealed entrance, which is battered into bits. This time, what comes out is not at all nice. Ghosts! A six-pack of howling damned souls spooks Humbar and Reza, the latter dropping the Mace of Disruption and donning his Gloves of Swimming, Humbar tries to push the canoe off the shore. The ghosts exit the tomb and as Dalliance casts her Undeath to Death spell, one erects a magica sphere of protection. In the aftermath, there are two ghosts left with which the party must do battle. Luckily, the undead slaying mace comes in handy and the party wins through the fearsome foe.
There is a brief delay as the group lets a panicked Humbar row them back across the lake, but Reza is not here. Having used his Boots of Springing to hop out of the pit, he has fled the entire complex and it takes Bud and Barada in bird form to scout the desert sands and return him to the party. Retracing their steps, the group returns to the ghostly opening. Beyond is a barren room with only six sets of skeletal remains to adorn the floor. On the opposite wall…get the ram.
The ram is applied and the opening is made. The party sees a large sarcophagus guarded by a quartet of baying mummy hounds. Having heard Reza during his morning squat, this is not nearly as fearsome as all that. The Mace of Disruption comes into play again, utterly destroying two of the creatures with a single blow. The remaining duo is no match for Reza and the Mace and soon enough all trace of life (and unlife) is gone. The party ponders what might lie inside a coffin guarded by 6 ghosts and 4 mummy hounds and decides that it might be wiser to make a plan, ensure all appropriate spells are available and generally prepapre for what might well be a serious struggle.