Carpet of Bones and Tripwires
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Indy and Satipo descend stone stairs to a tight landing, encountering a deadly trap concealed by carefully strung dead vines and a floor carpeted with human skeletons.
Indy takes the torch from Satipo and inspects the landing, stepping onto the skeletons and warning Satipo to avoid the vines.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Controlled and focused — outwardly calm, with an internal calculation of danger and the mechanics of the trap rather than panic.
Indiana Jones takes the torch, lowers it to inspect the landing, deliberately steps across the brittle skeletons producing cracking sounds, and issues a terse command to Satipo to avoid the vines.
- • Assess immediate physical danger and safe path forward across the landing
- • Maintain leadership and control over his guide to prevent reckless movement
- • Preserve their lives to continue the temple expedition
- • The temple is deliberately booby-trapped and must be probed cautiously
- • Measured, physical probing (light, weight) will reveal safe passage
- • His competence and composure can prevent catastrophe for both of them
Panicked and fearful, with a fight-or-flight response apparent; overwhelmed by the gruesome evidence of past victims.
Satipo descends the stairs with Indy, gasps aloud at the sight of the skeletons, visibly panics at the hooked vines, and is placed in a reactive, fearful position while Indy takes charge.
- • Avoid immediate physical harm and remain alive
- • Follow Indy's lead to the extent necessary to survive
- • Preserve opportunity for escape or to claim any treasure if survival permits
- • The landing and vines are deadly and unpredictable
- • He cannot safely proceed without Indy's guidance
- • Rapid movement or touching traps will result in death
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
A handheld torch is physically transferred (Indy 'takes the torch') and its flame is lowered to illuminate the landing. It functions as the investigative tool that reveals the bone carpet and allows Indy to test weight-bearing surfaces, directly enabling the narrative revelation of the trap.
Dead vines are described as carefully strung and hooked into the walls, framing the landing like invisible tripwires; they function as clear physical hazards and a visible cue of the temple's mechanical cunning, constricting the entry and threatening anyone who brushes them.
A flattened, layered carpet of human skeletons covers the landing; Indy lowers the torch to reveal them and then steps across them, producing audible cracking. The bones function both as macabre set-dressing and as an immediate physical hazard whose brittleness defines the traversable surface.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The stone stairs provide the approach route down into the temple's inner thresholds; they physically bring Indy and Satipo to the narrow landing and function as the spatial preface to the trap sequence, creating a descent from safety into focused danger.
The tight landing is the trap's heart: a cramped stone platform rimmed by hooked dead vines and carpeted with compressed human skeletons. It concentrates threat and forces a tactical decision about how to cross, becoming the scene's dramatic focal point.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Indy's inspection of the pit leads him to use his whip to swing across, demonstrating his resourcefulness."
Key Dialogue
"INDY: "Let me see that.""
"INDY: "Try not to touch the vines.""