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pathfindersociety2015-09-17 09:56 pm
persuasively) wrote in pathfindersociety2015-09-17 09:56 pm
Entry tags:
Mummy's Mask (Session 1)
MUMMY'S MASK
BOOK ONE: THE HALF-DEAD CITY
PLAYERS: Ashley, Chris, Brooke, Ruthi, Tifa, Shana, Karen, Alli
Rashida and Raziya were laid off at the temple of Pharasma so that they could enter the lottery. The party begins debating their options for adventuring names, fighting over Sand Snakes vs Silver Snakes. Resnick convinced the party at the tavern to go with Silver Snakes after extensive bickering. Gratch buys everyone a round of drinks to celebrate selecting a name (that's his name). Resnick and Gratch high-five.
With that, they set off into the market district of the bustling city of Wati. Beneath the hot Osirian sun, people gather to explore the tombs of the city's necropolis to be assigned their first sights for exploration. The public has gathered to observe the ceremony as well. The festival-like quality of the air is created by vendors selling goods and convenient items for explorers, while others promise to buy treasures and antiques from those who visit their establishment.
In front of the Pharasma temple, two urns sit atop a table beneath the awning where lots are being drawn. The High Priestess, Sebti the Crocodile, sits behind the table.
The cityfolk dredged the meteorite out, carved it into the obelisk of Pharasma, and planted it in the center of the necropolis in Midwife because they considered the meteorite a good omen. This is one of the largest Pharasman towns that this is because they rebuilt it in order to honor the dead. Rashida walks up to register the group's name and they note down a token and hand us a token for the plot we'll be on. While Rashida is off at the raffle, the party descends into chaos complaining about the duration of the event.
Rashida returns with a sketched map of the necropolis showing which plot of land is ours to scout out: the Tomb of Akhentepi. The location of the tomb predates the era of madness, and it's located in the original necropolis, so it's quite an old site. A lot of people are excited about theirs, and a lot are grumbling about their bad luck for garbage sites. A few head up to complain to priests of Pharasma about what they got. Aisha approaches them and feeds into the complaints about treasure hunters who don't know the history. A woman from Taldor and the rest of her group all have brooches with Nethys' symbol on them.
"Before the Pharasmans marched on this town and took it over, it was a large town of worshippers of Nethys with many historical tombs dedicated to worshipping Nethys, and there were many places of worship that we have right to inspect as followers of Nethys, but I guess that means nothing to these Pharasma-worshipping people." Aisha offered to bring her a symbol of her goddess. "Us and some of the more serious folks here are meeting up after the first day at The Tooth and Hookah," the name of a very popular inn in the town. "The Crypt Finders, Dog Soldiers, and Sand Scorpions are going to be there. Probably a few others. Mine are the Scorched Hand. I am Velreana Helpaxis." She mentions that she hopes they'll do better in the second or third lottery/wave. Aisha introduces herself and carries this information back to the group and recommends that they ply these intrepid adventurers for recommendations and hints on where to search. Xenira stiffly discourages the notion, saying she is on a quest of sorts. She then creepily tries to look around for lizards and rats (to eat???) and gets defensive when asked why. When she finds something, she feeds it to her little snake companion, Nenyrus.
Aisha solicits one of the vendors to give her information about previous lotteries that he's been at and the types of people who frequent it. He tells them it's mostly sketchy people and some assyrianologists. When she asks what kind of artifacts the sketchy treasure hunters found, he cited relics of value, but also some magical artifacts. When Aisha asked for an example and found out it was too rich for the vendor's blood, she lost interest. Then they all bought kebabs and had a kebab party. The vendor nudged his tip jar and Xenira awkwardly questions the practice of tipping as Rashida deposits money in the jar.
Xenira questions the party what they know about the Necropolis, and admits that she's from across the sea in another country. Specifically, she nudges towards how many dead people are in the Necropolis. The Pharasma worshippers respond positively, encouraging the exploration of the ideas of life and death and its nature.
At dawn, they depart for the Necropolis. Sebti cuts the ribbon, and people rush the gate. The party hangs back to wait for it to disperse, assured that their spot is reserved. A set of massive stone double-doors is affixed to the side of their plot. Windblown sand is heaped around the crypt, partially burying the doors that lead within. Akhentepi: 2416-2488, 11 years before the plague of madness. Rashida and Aisha notice tell-tale mortar in the jamb, indicating that the doors were meant to be sealed permanently and not intended to be opened again, but a crowbar was inserted at some point. There's no visible handles or hinges on the door: the hinges are concealed and the doors swing outward. Resnick uses her mind powers to move some of the sand, and the others grab shovels to join her. Aisha declines, and Gratch assures her that he will do double work to make up for it. She thanks him, ignoring the snide remarks of others in the process.
There is no visible way to open the door, so Gratch tries to pry it open with his hands. Rashida helps him out, as do Raziya, Quazzle, and Resnick. Aisha reluctantly steps forward to help, but even with all of them, they can't get it open. They attempt to use Resnick and Aisha's grappling hooks to pry both doors apart. Between all of them, they succeed in getting the door open with the use of tools. They enter into an empty room with an immense stone wheel to the south wall. A thick layer of sand cover the floor, and all the walls bear sunken relief engravings and hieroglyphs. The wheel is engraved with spiral stone tracks, as though it's intended to roll. The heiroglyphs explain the life of Akhentepi, and warn that his tomb is well-defended. Those who defile it tempt the wrath of the gods. The only thing Pharasma despises more than a graverobber is an unsuccessful graverobber. Rashida and Raziya notice that the wheel sports the symbol of Pharasma. They don't recognize him, but one of the faces is also a black-faced dog of some kind … Close examination reveals that they are decorative torch-holders.
No one carries a torch, especially non-darkvision Gratch who has horrible burn scars. Aisha does not light a torch for him, but she does stick close to guide him. Aisha asks Gratch to roll the wheel out of the way once the party affirms nothing else is in the room, and he and Raziya successfully roll the 6,000 pound wheel of stone out of the way.
A dusty length of rope descends into the darkness of a pit in the ground. Quazzle notes that someone has definitely been there before. The rope only goes for 5 ft before it's cut off. Xenira suggests they tie the ropes together. Quazzle suggests they throw something down there. Rashida can see the bottom of the pit, but no one else can. Raziya tosses Gratch a rope while everyone debates tossing a rock, and Gratch just climbs down.
Images of a warrior are carved on an ornate stone door, with a scarab-shaped shield on his arm. A crumpled humanoid body lies in front of the doors, a hint of decay in the air. A dried stain mars the floor below the body. Resnick shouts for Gratch to search the body when he announces it. The gear has suffered decades of rot and rust. A couple of metal pitons and a usable hammer are on it. Two vials of red liquid are also found. Raziya falls down the hole and even though Gratch catches her, she falls unconscious. Xenira notices the body is human/elf, and he died from the same thing that happened to Raziya—he fell and broke both legs and was trapped there. Xenira notes the dishonor of the death as Rashida heals Raziya. Raziya notes that they are not magical potions, but can't tell what they are. Resnick recognizes the alchemist's fire for what it is, and Gratch immediately tries to get rid of the bottled fire. Aisha takes the alchemist's fire from Gratch.
Umie flies in with feather-fall, blooping down the hole. Gratch throws the doors open. Thundering down the hall, darts hit all of them and knock multiple people unconscious. Aisha successfully disables a trap on the door. Needing to ask for help makes Quazzle feel like he's not good at anything. She reassures Quazzle that he's simply not good enough at it yet: he will be.
A faded tapestry hangs on the western wall of the foyer. It depicts a middle-aged man and his family on an estate. Two dead, preserved animals sit on the pedestals. Stones doors exit the chamber to the north and south. Quazzle offers to return the favor by translating the ancient Osiriani for Aisha. His family is interred elsewhere, and this tomb was created later after his successful military career because of the tragedy that befell his family. The animals are his mummified cats. Rashida identifies that the cats were strangled when Akhentepi died so they could be buried with him. They head to the south down a set of stairs. A massive mirror is pressed against the southern wall. The eastern statue depicts a gaunt woman with an hourglass and the western statue is Anubis with a staff in his hand. Torchholders shaped like bird skulls are in each corner. As they stare into the mirror, a human man with bronzed skin in his 40's appears: it's Akhentepi. He appears stern and disapproving: all of the party's reflections appear stern and disapproving. He reaches out towards the glass and touches the glass. He's etching ancient Osiriani hieroglyphics on it. The symbols he etches appear on the reflections' foreheads, and Rashida and Umie's foreheads in real life open up and bleed with the symbol. Raziya and Rashida conclude that, until they free Akhentepi's soul, they could not take his stuff. The brand remains for a few days. Xenira mentions that it's an illusion, not a spirit. Resnick takes the mirror to sell later.
To the east, pillars line the walls, interspersed with stone jackal heads protruding through the wall. A stone altar lies covered in the dust at the end of the room: Rashida identifies it as a preparation chamber. As they search the room for traps, two creatures burst from behind the altar. The spiders that crawl out have ten legs. The party manages to struggle through defeating the spiders, but not without severe injury. As they continue exploring, Quazzle aggravates a pile of sand that turns into a snake that snaps at him. Fighting the snake, they realize that they cannot hit it with piercing or slashing weapons. Bludgeoning, sonic, and alchemist's fire seem to do just fine though. In the process, Aisha accidentally burns Gratch with alchemist's fire.
Xenira enters the next room fascinated by a depiction of the transition from Akhentepi to his final resting place in Pharasma's realm on a tapestry. Umie mimics her fascination. They descend down staircases with multiple levels of doors with symbols of pharasma on them. At the bottom of the stairwell, a gold trimmed sarcophagus is seated in the middle of the room, flanked by jackal-headed statues carrying ankhs. As they step up onto the platform, a loud thunk sounds from below. The southern door slams shut, and a heavy sliding noise sounds from inside like an internal locking mechanism. Aisha and Quazzle are close enough to the door to try to jump out: Aisha has the willpower to stay, but Quazzle dives for the door in time for it to slam in his face, knocking him prone. At the same time, bolts of electricity arc between the central pillars on the platform, electrocuting the party. The lightning strikes the sarcophagus, animating it. The sarcophagus rises up, and the doors to the north slide open. The river Sphinx begins to rush into the room, and it fills with water.
BOOK ONE: THE HALF-DEAD CITY
PLAYERS: Ashley, Chris, Brooke, Ruthi, Tifa, Shana, Karen, Alli
Rashida and Raziya were laid off at the temple of Pharasma so that they could enter the lottery. The party begins debating their options for adventuring names, fighting over Sand Snakes vs Silver Snakes. Resnick convinced the party at the tavern to go with Silver Snakes after extensive bickering. Gratch buys everyone a round of drinks to celebrate selecting a name (that's his name). Resnick and Gratch high-five.
With that, they set off into the market district of the bustling city of Wati. Beneath the hot Osirian sun, people gather to explore the tombs of the city's necropolis to be assigned their first sights for exploration. The public has gathered to observe the ceremony as well. The festival-like quality of the air is created by vendors selling goods and convenient items for explorers, while others promise to buy treasures and antiques from those who visit their establishment.
In front of the Pharasma temple, two urns sit atop a table beneath the awning where lots are being drawn. The High Priestess, Sebti the Crocodile, sits behind the table.
The cityfolk dredged the meteorite out, carved it into the obelisk of Pharasma, and planted it in the center of the necropolis in Midwife because they considered the meteorite a good omen. This is one of the largest Pharasman towns that this is because they rebuilt it in order to honor the dead. Rashida walks up to register the group's name and they note down a token and hand us a token for the plot we'll be on. While Rashida is off at the raffle, the party descends into chaos complaining about the duration of the event.
Rashida returns with a sketched map of the necropolis showing which plot of land is ours to scout out: the Tomb of Akhentepi. The location of the tomb predates the era of madness, and it's located in the original necropolis, so it's quite an old site. A lot of people are excited about theirs, and a lot are grumbling about their bad luck for garbage sites. A few head up to complain to priests of Pharasma about what they got. Aisha approaches them and feeds into the complaints about treasure hunters who don't know the history. A woman from Taldor and the rest of her group all have brooches with Nethys' symbol on them.
"Before the Pharasmans marched on this town and took it over, it was a large town of worshippers of Nethys with many historical tombs dedicated to worshipping Nethys, and there were many places of worship that we have right to inspect as followers of Nethys, but I guess that means nothing to these Pharasma-worshipping people." Aisha offered to bring her a symbol of her goddess. "Us and some of the more serious folks here are meeting up after the first day at The Tooth and Hookah," the name of a very popular inn in the town. "The Crypt Finders, Dog Soldiers, and Sand Scorpions are going to be there. Probably a few others. Mine are the Scorched Hand. I am Velreana Helpaxis." She mentions that she hopes they'll do better in the second or third lottery/wave. Aisha introduces herself and carries this information back to the group and recommends that they ply these intrepid adventurers for recommendations and hints on where to search. Xenira stiffly discourages the notion, saying she is on a quest of sorts. She then creepily tries to look around for lizards and rats (to eat???) and gets defensive when asked why. When she finds something, she feeds it to her little snake companion, Nenyrus.
Aisha solicits one of the vendors to give her information about previous lotteries that he's been at and the types of people who frequent it. He tells them it's mostly sketchy people and some assyrianologists. When she asks what kind of artifacts the sketchy treasure hunters found, he cited relics of value, but also some magical artifacts. When Aisha asked for an example and found out it was too rich for the vendor's blood, she lost interest. Then they all bought kebabs and had a kebab party. The vendor nudged his tip jar and Xenira awkwardly questions the practice of tipping as Rashida deposits money in the jar.
Xenira questions the party what they know about the Necropolis, and admits that she's from across the sea in another country. Specifically, she nudges towards how many dead people are in the Necropolis. The Pharasma worshippers respond positively, encouraging the exploration of the ideas of life and death and its nature.
At dawn, they depart for the Necropolis. Sebti cuts the ribbon, and people rush the gate. The party hangs back to wait for it to disperse, assured that their spot is reserved. A set of massive stone double-doors is affixed to the side of their plot. Windblown sand is heaped around the crypt, partially burying the doors that lead within. Akhentepi: 2416-2488, 11 years before the plague of madness. Rashida and Aisha notice tell-tale mortar in the jamb, indicating that the doors were meant to be sealed permanently and not intended to be opened again, but a crowbar was inserted at some point. There's no visible handles or hinges on the door: the hinges are concealed and the doors swing outward. Resnick uses her mind powers to move some of the sand, and the others grab shovels to join her. Aisha declines, and Gratch assures her that he will do double work to make up for it. She thanks him, ignoring the snide remarks of others in the process.
There is no visible way to open the door, so Gratch tries to pry it open with his hands. Rashida helps him out, as do Raziya, Quazzle, and Resnick. Aisha reluctantly steps forward to help, but even with all of them, they can't get it open. They attempt to use Resnick and Aisha's grappling hooks to pry both doors apart. Between all of them, they succeed in getting the door open with the use of tools. They enter into an empty room with an immense stone wheel to the south wall. A thick layer of sand cover the floor, and all the walls bear sunken relief engravings and hieroglyphs. The wheel is engraved with spiral stone tracks, as though it's intended to roll. The heiroglyphs explain the life of Akhentepi, and warn that his tomb is well-defended. Those who defile it tempt the wrath of the gods. The only thing Pharasma despises more than a graverobber is an unsuccessful graverobber. Rashida and Raziya notice that the wheel sports the symbol of Pharasma. They don't recognize him, but one of the faces is also a black-faced dog of some kind … Close examination reveals that they are decorative torch-holders.
No one carries a torch, especially non-darkvision Gratch who has horrible burn scars. Aisha does not light a torch for him, but she does stick close to guide him. Aisha asks Gratch to roll the wheel out of the way once the party affirms nothing else is in the room, and he and Raziya successfully roll the 6,000 pound wheel of stone out of the way.
A dusty length of rope descends into the darkness of a pit in the ground. Quazzle notes that someone has definitely been there before. The rope only goes for 5 ft before it's cut off. Xenira suggests they tie the ropes together. Quazzle suggests they throw something down there. Rashida can see the bottom of the pit, but no one else can. Raziya tosses Gratch a rope while everyone debates tossing a rock, and Gratch just climbs down.
Images of a warrior are carved on an ornate stone door, with a scarab-shaped shield on his arm. A crumpled humanoid body lies in front of the doors, a hint of decay in the air. A dried stain mars the floor below the body. Resnick shouts for Gratch to search the body when he announces it. The gear has suffered decades of rot and rust. A couple of metal pitons and a usable hammer are on it. Two vials of red liquid are also found. Raziya falls down the hole and even though Gratch catches her, she falls unconscious. Xenira notices the body is human/elf, and he died from the same thing that happened to Raziya—he fell and broke both legs and was trapped there. Xenira notes the dishonor of the death as Rashida heals Raziya. Raziya notes that they are not magical potions, but can't tell what they are. Resnick recognizes the alchemist's fire for what it is, and Gratch immediately tries to get rid of the bottled fire. Aisha takes the alchemist's fire from Gratch.
Umie flies in with feather-fall, blooping down the hole. Gratch throws the doors open. Thundering down the hall, darts hit all of them and knock multiple people unconscious. Aisha successfully disables a trap on the door. Needing to ask for help makes Quazzle feel like he's not good at anything. She reassures Quazzle that he's simply not good enough at it yet: he will be.
A faded tapestry hangs on the western wall of the foyer. It depicts a middle-aged man and his family on an estate. Two dead, preserved animals sit on the pedestals. Stones doors exit the chamber to the north and south. Quazzle offers to return the favor by translating the ancient Osiriani for Aisha. His family is interred elsewhere, and this tomb was created later after his successful military career because of the tragedy that befell his family. The animals are his mummified cats. Rashida identifies that the cats were strangled when Akhentepi died so they could be buried with him. They head to the south down a set of stairs. A massive mirror is pressed against the southern wall. The eastern statue depicts a gaunt woman with an hourglass and the western statue is Anubis with a staff in his hand. Torchholders shaped like bird skulls are in each corner. As they stare into the mirror, a human man with bronzed skin in his 40's appears: it's Akhentepi. He appears stern and disapproving: all of the party's reflections appear stern and disapproving. He reaches out towards the glass and touches the glass. He's etching ancient Osiriani hieroglyphics on it. The symbols he etches appear on the reflections' foreheads, and Rashida and Umie's foreheads in real life open up and bleed with the symbol. Raziya and Rashida conclude that, until they free Akhentepi's soul, they could not take his stuff. The brand remains for a few days. Xenira mentions that it's an illusion, not a spirit. Resnick takes the mirror to sell later.
To the east, pillars line the walls, interspersed with stone jackal heads protruding through the wall. A stone altar lies covered in the dust at the end of the room: Rashida identifies it as a preparation chamber. As they search the room for traps, two creatures burst from behind the altar. The spiders that crawl out have ten legs. The party manages to struggle through defeating the spiders, but not without severe injury. As they continue exploring, Quazzle aggravates a pile of sand that turns into a snake that snaps at him. Fighting the snake, they realize that they cannot hit it with piercing or slashing weapons. Bludgeoning, sonic, and alchemist's fire seem to do just fine though. In the process, Aisha accidentally burns Gratch with alchemist's fire.
Xenira enters the next room fascinated by a depiction of the transition from Akhentepi to his final resting place in Pharasma's realm on a tapestry. Umie mimics her fascination. They descend down staircases with multiple levels of doors with symbols of pharasma on them. At the bottom of the stairwell, a gold trimmed sarcophagus is seated in the middle of the room, flanked by jackal-headed statues carrying ankhs. As they step up onto the platform, a loud thunk sounds from below. The southern door slams shut, and a heavy sliding noise sounds from inside like an internal locking mechanism. Aisha and Quazzle are close enough to the door to try to jump out: Aisha has the willpower to stay, but Quazzle dives for the door in time for it to slam in his face, knocking him prone. At the same time, bolts of electricity arc between the central pillars on the platform, electrocuting the party. The lightning strikes the sarcophagus, animating it. The sarcophagus rises up, and the doors to the north slide open. The river Sphinx begins to rush into the room, and it fills with water.