reminded | Office Hours

[Luke takes the lantern and studies the stone as well. It doesn't look too loose or crumbly. Chances are when Maiza lifts him up there, he'll either find a locked door or...a puzzle-locked door.

Well! No way to know at all without having a go at it. He'll accept Maiza's boost up, rolling the torchbottle away from him until he gets all the way onto the ledge and finds steady footing. Then he holds the light out and up, turning it to shine as well as it can through the hall they're in.

It looks just as massive as it felt in the dark.]

There's nothing up here but rocks and dust. And the door.

Is it locked?

[And then Layton will join them, coiling up to jump for the ledge. He can pull himself up with a bit of effort, but a hand would be appreciated.]

[Once he's lifted himself on the ledge and made sure neither he nor Luke are going to fall, Maiza leans over the edge and holds out a hand to Layton to take should he need it.]

It looks sturdy as far as I can tell from a glance. We'll see. You all right there, Professor?

[Not to be outdone, Luke helps Layton up onto the ledge as well, hastily making sure his hat doesn't topple from his head in the ascent.]

At least this one isn't so big.

[Luke Triton: hat strap in disguise. Layton thanks them both when he's on firm ground again, then walks up to the door to give it a closer look. It's engraved with a wall of hieroglyphics that covers the slab of a door from end to end. He gives the text a scan until one section catches his eye, whereupon he smiles in understanding.]

Did you two know that Egyptian hieroglyphics can be read in any direction? The only way you can tell the correct orientation is by looking at the hieroglyphs of people and animals. They will always be facing the beginning of the message... which is why I find this section in particular so unusual.

[He sweeps the dust off the area in question for his party's benefit. Two human-shaped hieroglyphs sandwich a hieroglyphic sun and face not the beginning of the text, but each other. Without further ado, Layton pushes the circular sun hieroglyph until it retreats alone into the door's depth, leaving behind a round hole.

A deep rumbling begins to sound...]

[Professor, what did we say about warnings before activating puzzles? Maiza takes a split second to realize what just happened before he steps closer to Luke, ready to grab him by the shirt if the ground beneath them crumbles again or something. Really, professor.]

Do they really? I think I may have heard about that before.

[There's something flat about his sort-of cheerful response and his cheek muscles seem to be straining just a little.]

Of course I knew it! You've told me that before. [Look at how this rumbling doesn't even bother him. All he does is grip his bag a little tighter, focused on the door and the depression left by a missing sun.]

In that case, maybe I should have let you two take a crack at it first. Forgive me; I sometimes get a little eager when it comes to archaeological puzzles.

[With a persistent grumble, the door begins to retreat sideways inch by inch. A brightness squeezes out of the widening gap, leaking out and into the present chamber until it trumps Luke's flashlamp completely. Whatever lies beyond the door is well-lit, at least.]

You really enjoy it, huh, Professor? [He raises a hand to shield his eyes from the light for a second, but he looks straight at it soon.]

Shall we? [He steps forward. He's starting to get interested in this sort of thing.]

[Real light! Not hesitant for once, Luke charges forward into it. The flashlamp was a nice idea but he likes to be able to see all the corners of a room.]

[Layton brings up the rear, tipping up the brim of his hat for a better look. It's smaller than the room before, but what it lacks in size it makes up in style. Hieroglyphics cover the walls from end to end, illuminated by inexplicably lit torches. A row of thick columns usher the way to a dais at the far end of the room, upon which rests a sarcophagus.]

[For Maiza who was hoping for a way out despite getting interested in the puzzleventure, this comes as a slight disappointment. He walks up to the sarcophagus to take a better look at it. He checks for any signs that it was opened recently, first.]

[Sarcophagus.

Luke stops short, turning his walk so that he's well behind Layton and perhaps just for a moment actually hiding behind him, peering around. Mummies come out of those in all the stories.]

Look out Maiza! What if it's cursed?

[Or what if the mummy pops out alive? This is an oddly possible occurrence in Layton's experience. The sarcophagus appears to be consistently layered with dust and therefore untouched.]

I'm pretty sturdy. Curses and the rising dead can't get me too roughed up, I don't think. But it looks like it hasn't moved in a long time.

That probably just means he's still inside. [A true gentleman does not disturb the rest of the dead, right?

...No wait Layton's an archaeologist.]

[A true gentleman leaves no puzzle unsolved, and this qualifies as a puzzle well enough!! He approaches the other side of the sarcophagus to help Maiza uncover it.]

We won't know until we take a peek inside, will we? Besides, I see little else we can do.

I thought you'd say that. Why don't we tilt it open toward the wall? [so Luke won't be the first thing it sees.]

Luke, stay back a bit.

I'm all right! [Don't treat him like a kid, Maiza.] If he tries anything I-I'll get him back.

[Layton just smiles and moves to help Maiza tilt.]

On three. One... two...

[He's treating you as a mortal, Luke. Don't be like that now, he learned his lesson about treating you like ~~the baby you are a child.]~~

... Three. [He pushes at the lid, keeping an eye on what's inside the box so he can drop it at the first sign of danger.]

[Luke, stuck holding the torch again, raises it like a club in case there's something in there that he needs to bash at while shouting.]

[Inside the sarcophagus is... a dead person. Which makes sense, since that's what sarcophagi are for. And since it's an Egyptian kind of sarcophagus, the dead person is wrapped in bandages with arms crossed over chest. But that's not all; there are three articles of gold along with it: a crook in its right hand, a flail in its left, and an ankh hung from a necklace around its neck.

Despite the disturbance, the dead person stays dead. Imagine that.]

[Partially because he doesn't know if mummies move when touched, Maiza does not try to poke at the dead person in there. He slowly removes the lid completely from the rest of the sarcophagus and takes a moment to study the body inside.]

Well, here it is. Royalty, by the look of it.

[Luke can't help drawing closer, though he knows that if it moves he'll go running faster than either of the other two. Right? Right.]

Royalty is dusty.

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