Amal was no stranger to tombs. He had plundered them before, back when there had been a city wide search for him in Al-Hiekk. But most of them had open entrances one could find if they were clever enough, and whenever he found himself against something otherworldly, he had the good sense to flee from whence he came. That caution, however, fled when he saw the emeralds the size of small apples embedded in the beautiful woman's eyes. 

Emmaline saw the hunger in Amal's eyes after a moment, and shook her head emphatically. The thief had looked as if he was about to scale the statue and pry them out with his dagger. The thought had certainly crossed his mind... 

"You're right," he sighed, clearly annoyed at the misfortune of seeing a jewel he couldn't take. There would have to be consequences, yes? That was how all of the tales worked. There was also the small detail Amal, and Emmaline likely, knew of. Asaph was also the goddess of vengeance. Amal had enough bad luck at the moment. He wouldn't stir the wrath of an ancient pagan deity. Not without good cause at least, he thought as he gazed at the emeralds. 

"Is there no way to close the entrance to outsiders?" Amal asked, hoping they could at least protect themselves from the bandits. His lovely companion shook her head, explaining that even if there was, there was no gauruntee of opening it again later. Amal cursed in Arabyan, and decided he needed to be pragmatic in a different way. If they couldn't escape readily, they might as well start to get in Asaph's good graces. 

He nimbly leaped over the sunken pool, Emmaline watching as he casually made a jump most men would be fearful of. Landing easily, he made his way over to the simple stone altar, a square with the carving of a Cobra on its head. Amal tried to press down on it, but there was no pressure point under it. After a moment, he decided to beseech Asaph, giving a prayer to the Goddess with a dramatic air so as to draw her attention. 

Nothing happened as he invoked her name, Emmaline approaching with her lit coin to provide light on if they missed anything. The stone around the large, odd statue looked as if it might be a door, perhaps. But it still looked solid enough to not budge, and Amal felt it was fruitless. "We are getting nowhere with this. We-..." he stopped, his eyes falling onto the coin. Inching his hand forward, he asked Emmaline. "May I?" 

Questionably, she gave him the coin. He gingerly let it drop onto his palm, gripping it so the entire chamber was now pitch black. Whispering, he invoked her name once more, and opening his palm to bathe the room in light again, he dropped it atop the central altar. There was a loud thud, as if the coin weighed ten times it's normal amount, and the light was sucked out of the coin instantly. Amal stepped back, guarding Emmaline until the emerald of the statue shined like beacons in the darkness, lighting the entire room up. 

As the room was filled with light, eerily there was now clear, pristine water in the pool they had passed. Amal shrugged, giving Emmaline a handsome smile. "I think all she needed was a little magic." he explained, but the moment of debonairness dissipated as a shout was heard down the corridor, and something heavy dropped against stone. They needed to act, and quickly. As the northern woman said, there was no way out. What to do... 

Amal grabbed the rope he had kept coiled around his arm. "Pray to your Sigmah, or whoever it is. Your Renald? Either way." He remarked, and tossed a length of the rope around one of the pillars, having the majority of the rope clinging to his midsection. "Tie yourself to me and hold onto me." 

"What?"  

"Do it, golden one!" he snapped, referring to her hair. She did so immediately, realizing he had a plan that would likely help keep them alive, though it seemed like a longshot in such dire straits. Once she was tightly pressed to him, he began to climb the snake-like pillar, using the rope to help keep him steady and to use the friction to keep them stable. Up and up Amal went, his hard muscles like marble beneath Emmaline's hands. 

"Do you know what you're doing?" She asked. 

"If I know thieves," Amal whispered. "And I do. These men will not be able to help themselves..." As the scene below unfolded. 
[@Penny]