Escape the Room - Episode 4: Tomb Raiders

                                         Episode 4: "Tomb Raiders"

 

 "The Team awakes to find themselves locked in a dark, dusty, dimly lit room filled with coarse sand and a plethora of antique relics. The room has many interesting elements, An Egyptian Sarcophagus, A numerous amount of chests and jars, A pair of wooden rice bowls atop of stone pillars and a Sphinx-shaped fountain in the centre of the room built on top of a raised platform.
The entrance way in which the Team entered the room is now covered by a large stone door engraved with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, The same of which line the walls of the ancient tomb"

"As the door closed behind the Team a crudely made sand timer sat beside the entrance way began to pour sand into a wicker bowl, Counting down to certain doom? or maybe something else entirely?"

"The Taskmaster's voice is suddenly heard through a hidden microphone hidden within the walls:
Taskmaster: "Youz may now Escape the Room! And be warned, There iz many traps hidden within zis tomb *Evil laugh* Good luck Team, You vill needz it!"

Ben: "Well meine Freunde, Best we watch our step. He said there are booby traps which means we could be in danger of suffering severe injuries if we set one off"

Anita: "Surely they wouldn't really put our lives in danger? After all, this is all for TV isn't it?"

David: "Yeah, I'd still be careful though, Can't really trust a guy in a hockey mask to play things "Safe"...  If watching action movies has taught me anything it's to not press any buttons or pull any levers"

Hélene: "We have to find 4 keys to get out of here so I suggest we split up and search for them, We got more done last time by splitting off into groups. The less time I spend in this place the better, I can't stand how oppressive this room is and the colour scheme is really putting me in a fowl mood. Too much yellow in my opinion, Speaking of which..."

Laurel: "Hoooooh boy, sheet's gonna get real now...  Traps, Danger, Chance of death. This is my sort of room, Woot!"

*The Team split up and wander the Burial Chamber in search of clues and keys*

Hélene: "What a ghastly looking ornament, Puts the replica in the Louvre museum to shame and the water it's spouting looks positively pungent!"

Ben: "This wall looks very schwach..."

Hélene: "It looks what? Speak English please, For all our sakes"

Ben: "Um... Flimsy? I think that is the word to use, It looks very badly put together is what I'm trying to say"

Hélene: "Well what can one expect with the budget this show has? I'm surprised they had enough money to build one room let alone three"

*Ben knocks along the wall listening to the different sounds, He soon comes to a part of the wall which sounds relatively hollow*

Ben: "There is definitely another room through there, It sounds as if the wall is incredibly thin at this point"

Monty: "Hey guys, Look at this! I've seen one of these before, In Ember... It's all coming back to me now. They taught us about these in history class, This is a Sarcophagus. They use them to store the remains of dead Pharaohs"

Monty: "I have never seen these before though, These look like they could hold something. The pedestals they are sat on seem to be weighted with sandbags or something heavy, I bet if we filled these with something they would activate a pressure switch of some kind"

Anita: "What about sand Hun, Would that be heavy enough? Heck maybe if we both sat on one of the pedestals. Ha!"

David: "Got nothing over here, Just some more sand and a whole nest of scarab beetles...  Anyone ever ate a scarab beetle before? I heard they taste like chicken..."

*David searches about at the bottom of the chest and finds a letter addressed to the late Professor Potts containing Morse code*

David: You know, it's getting kind of hot in here. But maybe the clothes-taking part can come later. That means you, Laurel! *He laughs at his own joke* And I think this note is written in Morse code. You know, my great grandpa relayed messages in the war. Well, the American one did. Let me see if I can remember what these mean.

*He reads the letter and recites it back to himself trying to jog his memory*

David: Yo, guys! I think that this letter says the code is "ANUBIS" now we just gotta find what this is a code for..."

*Monty inspects the snake statue sat in front of the hole in the wall for a moment, Shrugs his shoulders and moves it to one side. He confidently places his hand into the cavernous hole and feels about in the darkness*

Monty: "I have got a feeling that there might be a button of some kind in here that will activate something..." *Just as he finishes his sentence something grabs his hand, He is stunned for second and then feels something sharp and painful stab into his hand*

*Monty flinches, Cries in pain and quickly pulls his hand out from the wall to discover his hand is covered with numerous bugs and insects*

Monty: "Argghhh!!!! Get it off, Get it off!

*He waves his hand about violently to try and shake the bugs loose*

Monty: "Something bit me, It really hurts...  I want my mom, I think it's poison! Oh my god, I'm going to die...  My poor mom and dad wont know what happened to me, If I die in the dream I'll die in real life!"

 *Visibly alarmed and upset, Anita rushes to Monty's aid and tries to comfort him"

Anita: "Oh my dear little sweetheart! you’ve been poisoned?! We must find an antidote! Oh golly gosh! This is dangerous! Don't move sweet pea, Mama Nita will get you some ointment or a bandage for it, Don't you worry pudding..."

*Anita searches about for something, Anything she can use to help*

Anita: "Why is there nothing but bloody sand in this stupid place?! Would a little help be too much to ask Mr. Task?!"

*The Taskmaster is heard laughing through the microphone*

Anita: "If that raving lunatic has poisoned him he can look out! When I get out of here I'm going to knock him onto his mysterious masked backside! Nobody hurts one of Mama Nita's babies!"

Laurel: "Hmm... The Professor must have had one hell of a party in here before he kicked the bucket, Look at all this cool sheet he left behind"

*Laurel searches amongst the Professor's remains*

Laurel: "Hey, Maybe there is a clue on the old fossil?"


*She rummages amongst the dusty old skeleton whilst making various crude jokes about "Bones" and the professor being happy to see her*

Laurel: "What about his skull? *Laurel laughs at a joke that is forming in her head* Hey, Hey guys...  Do you think the Professor... "

*The Taskmaster interrupts through the PA system*

Taskmaster: "Oi! Enoughz of zat smut Miss Lime! We vant to keep this show PG!"

*In defiance Laurel picks up the Professor's skull* 

Laurel: "PG? PG! PG my lemony fresh butt! Pfft! PG? What planet is this guy living on? He's trying to kill us and he wants a Lemon-Lime to keep it PG? Yeah right, Go stick a lemon up yer..."

Taskmaster: *Interrupting again* "Zis is your lazt warning Miss Lime! Dont makez me come in there..."

*Laurel laughs at the Taskmaster's statement and adds her own crude spin on it*


Laurel: "Tsk, Tsk... And I thought we were supposed to be a PG show?"

Taskmaster: "Silence! Or I'll release a deadly nerve toxin into the air duct!"

Laurel: "I wondered what that smell was..." *laughs*

*Laurel plays about with the skull in her hands, Juggling it back and forth before smashing the skull defiantly onto the sandstone floor and yelling "Touchdown!"*

Laurel: "Whoa! Free loot!"


*The smashed skull reveals the first keystone, Laurel picks it up and places it into the corresponding hole in the wall*

Anita: "Well done LL! One down, Three to go and we have to find some antidote for Monty ASAP!"

*She inspects the bowl*

*meanwhile Monty attempts to place his arm into the other hole in the wall*

Anita: "Careful Hun! Don't go placing your hand into another death trap, Perhaps you should sit down until we find an antidote for your bite?"

Monty: "But I want to help! Besides I'm already poisoned, I don't think another dose will really harm me and I would rather sacrifice myself than have someone else be bitten"

*Monty places his arm into the hole and feels about like before, This time however he feels a lever inside*

Monty: "I think I got something, let me see what this does..."

*As Monty pulls the lever a loud clicking sound can be heard from across the room and a large stone statue that was covering a concealed doorway slides aside revealing a whole new room*

Hélene: "Hmm, Wonder what is through there? You know besides certain death"

Anita: "These Jars look important, They seem to be colour coded, This ones got some blue on it. I'm sure I saw another one in red over by the rock pile earlier"

Hélene: "Well, What do you know? I was right..."

Hélene: "Certain death... *Laughs* This poor fool didn't seem to have much luck getting past those dart traps. So Miss Lime, Feeling brave? Fancy your chances of crossing this room without getting burned, Impaled or poisoned?"

Laurel: "You gotta be sheeting me lady! Ain't no way I'm going across that dance floor of doom!"

Hélene: "Once again, You prove to be as yellow as your attire. Surely you aren't scared of such an exciting opportunity? At least you would be making yourself useful for a change"

Laurel: "I don't see you volunteering, Miss Fur coat and no knickers!"

Hélene: "What a charming vocabulary you have Lime, Perhaps it is best we search about for a way to deactivate this confounded trap first before daring to reach the keystone?"

Hélene: "Or we may end up looking like this sorry pile of bones"

Laurel: "So many jokes I could be making right now..."

Hélene: "Please don't, I couldn't bare to listen to your low-brow humour in my current state"

Anita: Phew. After all that searching about, I need a little rest dears. *Anita sits on the chair*  Work smarter, not harder I think would be a good idea. I'm so tired from all this puzzle solving we have been doing lately.

*As Anita sits on the chair a clicking noise can be heard followed by the sounds of shuddering from beyond the Tomb wall as if something is moving about on the other side*

David: "Yo Nita, You hear that noise when you sat down?"


Anita: "Don't be cheeky! What are you trying to say?"

David: "No, I mean I heard a noise coming from the wall when you sat on the chair, It sounded like there was something going on behind here"

*David searches along the Tomb wall and finds markings along the edge of what appears to be a false wall*

David: "I wonder what would happen if I did this..."

*David attempts to push through the wall*

David: "Come on... You can do it... *He struggles at first but eventually gains momentum and manages to push open a secret door* "Aww yeah! Got it!"

David: "Hey guys, come take a look! I think I found another room, It looks like it could be important!"

David: "Got some chests, It says on the wall "Make your choice, But choose wisely..." I think we could be on to something here"

Ben: "I think it would be vorteilhaft... Sorry, I keep forgetting... beneficial to us if we were to clear this rock pile"

David: "Sure dude, I'll get on to it. Stand back"

Ben: "I'll watch and supervise, I've never really been one for manual labour. I'm not really that strong"

Ben: "Do you think we should take a look in one of these chests?"

Anita: "Yeah, definitely. I got a feeling that we may find a keystone in one of them"


Ben: "What if you choose incorrectly? You might set off another booby trap!"

Anita: "Nah, I've got a good feeling about this left one honey, Something tells me that we should go with the chest with a sun on it. After all the Egyptians were sun worshippers"

*Anita opens the chest to find more scarab beetles and another Keystone, The Keystone sits atop of a pressure plate. Using some ingenuity and a little luck, Anita manages to replace the Keystone with an item of equal weight and successfully retrieves the stone for her Team*

Anita: "There you go, What did I tell you sweet pea? Mama Nita is never far wrong!"

*David rushes to load the next Keystone into position upon the Tomb wall, Excited that they are only two keys away from completing their final room!*

David: "Woohoo! That's two down and two to go. We can do this guys!"

David: "Where haven't we checked already? Those Keys cant hide forever..."

*As David finishes his sentence the sand timer next to the door ticks down to zero and as the last grain of sand exits the sand timer the whole Tomb begins to shake and shudder violently...

Suddenly with a loud mechanical noise the mouth of the Sphinx Fountain opens with a groan and reveals a gaping crevice in which a new arm hole sits*

Hélene: "Wonder if this monstrously ugly looking statue is hiding something?

Hélene: "Under normal circumstances I wouldn't dream of putting my beautifully manicured nails into such a disgusting, depressing hole of disparity but alas needs must and if it means I don't have to spend another second in this hell I would gladly sacrifice my left arm"

Taskmaster: *Speaking through a hidden microphone* "You may very vell get to prove zat momentarily!" *Laughs manically* 

Hélene: "Oh please, You couldn't even afford to cause us grievous bodily harm. This show is the biggest farce i have ever seen in my life. I can assure you if anything were to happen to me you would be hearing from my lawyers..."

*Hélene places her arm into the Sphinx's mouth and retrieves a folded piece of papyrus paper*

Hélene: "Well, well. What do we have here?"

Hélene: "This appears to be a very crudely drawn map of the Tomb we are in, Possibly drawn by a 5 year old with a red crayon by the looks of it...  I think it says there is another keystone within the Sarcophagus and to deactivate the traps we need to place four Canopic jars onto the corresponding colour coded pressure plates"

Laurel: "Hey! It says we can find a bottle of antidote in the Professor's travel bag!"

Laurel: "And I'm guessing the code that David found earlier is for the padlock on the bag?"

*Sure enough Laurel enters the code Anubis into the padlock and uncovers a plethora of supplies aswell as the bottle of antidote as depicted on the map*


Hélene: "At last, We found that cursed antidote! Quick Monty, Come over here and drink this before that poison in your bloodstream begins to take effect!"

*Monty thanks Hélene and Laurel and drinks the antidote feeling much better than he was earlier*

Anita: "Well, I can't see anything down here. Looks like this hole next to the Professor's corpse is empty"

Monty: "Thanks so much for the antidote guys, I almost thought I had to say goodbye to my parents for a moment"

Hélene: "Don't mention it, It was the least we could do..."

Monty: "Hey do you think we should use the water in the fountain the fill the rice bowls?"


*The Team agrees with Monty and decides to do as he suggests, They each fill the two rice bowls with water from the fountain and discover that by doing so it unlocks the Pharaoh's Sarcophagus*

David: "Stand back guys, Let me flex my muscles ab it and I'll soon get this thing open"


Monty: "Remember to bend your knees! Or you'll hurt your back!"

Anita: "I thought that was only when you were lifting something heavy Hun?"

*David manages to slightly pry open the Sarcophagus but as he does the heavy stone lid snaps back shut on David's fingers*

David: "Argghhhh!!! Mother Trucker! That hurts like a..."

Taskmaster: *Through the hidden microphone* "Vat did I sayz? No swearing! If zis show becomes nothing but a tirade of curse words then we vill be cancelled and then vat vill I do withz my spare time?! Take up knitting?!"

Anita: "Pay no attention to him sweetie, He's clearly inhuman. Do you want me to get you a band-aid from the travel bag?"

David: "Um, No thanks, I'm okay. I've had worse injuries through practising my stunts on set, I once broke my collar bone falling from a fake cliff, Turns out fake snow doesn't make for a very soft landing... *He spots the next keystone inside the Sarcophagus* Aha! Got ya! We got another one guys!

*David hands the keystone to Monty who places it in the next slot upon the wall with the other keystones*

Monty: "There you go Mr. Keystone, Now we just gotta find the last one of your friends and we can go home"

Monty: "So guys, Does anyone have any ideas on how we reach the last keystone?"

Hélene: "Don't look at me... I tried to get Miss Lime to go and get it but she wasn't willing to be a team player"

Laurel: "Bullsheet!"

Ben: "I think I have this last puzzle solved already meine Freunde, The pressure plates in the Keystone room are colour coded correct? Well, What if we were to put these Canopic jars onto the tiles that are the same colour as the jar? Would it be safe to assume that doing so would de-activate the trap?"

Ben: "That would also explain why the devious Mr. Taskmaster decided to super-glue these jars down on the shelf, So as to stop us from cheating, Just like he did in the last room with the lamps!"

David: "That's genius!"

Ben: "Danke mein Freund, The pictures on the Professor's camera also show him pointing to the jars and then to the coloured tiles in the Passageway next door. Further confirming my theory"

*Following Ben's lead the Team gathers the Canopic Jars and places them on the correct coloured tiles in the Keystone Passageway*

*As they do so the trap system seemingly de-activates with the sound of ancient machinery, The smell of burning and the sight of smoke bellowing from the holes in the tomb wall*

Laurel: "Well, I think it's safe to cross now without getting a poison dart stuck in my butt. YOLO!"

*Laurel fearlessly dances her way across the checker board Tomb floor soon arriving at the Keystone placed at the end of the passageway*

Laurel: "Woohoo! Woop! Woop! Woo kiddos, I think I got me one keystone!"

Laurel: "Yoink! That's mine, I call shotgun on putting this on the wall!"

*Laurel grabs the Keystone and hurries to place it into the Tomb Wall, Pushing past Hélene to do so*

Laurel: "Yep, What do'ya know? Another moon? Let's ram this crud in here and get our butts back to the party! Cuz this place is a bore and I wanna party, Hard!..."

*Placing the last keystone into the wall, The Tomb begins to shake and shudder violently. Dust swirls in the air and suddenly the Exit Door is revealed. As the whole tomb begins to crumble the Taskmaster makes an announcement over the microphone*

Taskmaster: "Congratz Team you havez successfully ezcaped ze room! Stand back az I prepare to open ze door"


*The team celebrates their final victory over the Taskmaster*
 

All: "Woop!"


Monty:  "YES!! Woot! Now I can finally go back to Ember! My Mom and Dad will have missed me..."

David: "Awesome! I guess we beat the evil taskmaster at his own game! Time for a CELEBRATORY PARTAY!!!!"

*David performs a series of back flips in celebration*

David: "Ain't nobody's dying today, son"

Anita: "Yipeee! What a team! We did it! Even the hardest one was no match for us! WOOHOO!!! *covers mouth* Oops. Pardon my language!"

Laurel: "Pffft, screw Diane and her White cooking!"

Anita: "Now then sweethearts, What did he say about opening the... *As the large stone door swings open Anita falls through it unexpectedly*
 

Anita: "Oh god! *Catches her breath* Who put that there?"

Anita: *Spotting the Taskmaster sitting at his desk, Anita lets out a scream* "Sorry about that Hun, Did'nt mean to scream, I just had'nt seen you in awhile and forgot how scary you looked" *laughs*

Taskmaster: "Good evening Team, I haz beenz expecting youz for some time now..."
 

Hélene: "You monstor! I had to stick my hand in seven different shades of...

Laurel: *Laurel finishes Hélene's sentence* "SHEET!"


Hélene: "Yes, What she said! Do you have any idea how much a manicure costs these days? Do you know the amount of emotional, Physical and mental torture you have put us all through?!"

Taskmaster: "Vell, It Iz nice to knowz I am doing my job properly"

David: "Not cool dude, We done what you asked. We escaped your game, We beat you. Now let us go home!"

*Monty begins to fall asleep and starts dreaming of home... The City of Ember...*

 Monty: "I want to go home now..."

Ben: "Mr. Taskmaster, If you would be so kind as to show us the exit we will get out of your hair and all go back to our normal lives now"

Taskmaster: "All inz good time Mr. Schiffer, First pleaze allow me to introduce Professor Pott's body double for thiz evening...   T-Roll Orcstash!"

T-Roll: "Hi Guysh! Yoush done wreely well! I thoughtsh yoush wash going to be trapped in theresh for evers!"

T-Roll: "It wash likes watching a moovie! Withsh teh explorers and teh boobie trapsh! And sho much excitmentsh!"

Taskmaster: "I haz no idea vat you just said...   I'm going to assume you said i'll openz ze door...  Pleaze if youz would care to follow T-Roll he vill show youz to the exit and I would be honered if youz would join myself and Janet back at ze headqaurterz for a feast and a celebration of your new found freedom"

T-Roll: "Okay, Meesh open teh door! Me is explorer guide nowsh! Me ish like Indyanna Jonesh nowsh eh?"


Anita: "Oh honey, You ain't no Indy... Trust me, I would know. I've had a crush on Harrison Ford for years. He can explore my tomb anytime he likes..."

Taskmaster: "And she said I vaz scary!"