Round 4______________________________
Players take their turn in order of posting, enemies will go last.
Inferis steps forward and commands the zombie, "Attack the other zombie!" Leveling her wand, she fires at the last zombie.
"Nicez trick Infernis, thisz one will step out of the way to let the other out now.
Sirusk takes a 5ft. step backwards , moving in between Cerastes and Infernis' current position. After stepping away, he stows one of his tonfa and takes a total defense action.
Round 4______________________________
Inferis 'al Marris______
Inferis steps forward and commands the zombie, "Attack the other zombie!" Leveling her wand, she fires at the last zombie.
Cerastes_______
Waiting for an opening Cerastes says to Sirusk, "If you move forward I can help you get rid of this one."
Sirusk_______
"Nicez trick Infernis, thisz one will step out of the way to let the other out now.
Sirusk takes a 5ft. step backwards K11 or 12, moving in between Cerastes and Infernis' current position. After stepping away, he stows one of his tonfa (MA) and takes a total defense action(SA).
Cerastes_______
If it follows, Cerastes will try and hit it with his longsword:
And the others combine their efforts to finish off Red 4.
The battle is over.
Picking up his dropped weapons, Sirusk looks around the room. "Blasted undead; thisz one's targets are generally more ... alive, at least for the first time. Ok so don't poke the bony ones and don't pound the fleshy ones. Is that about it?"
Sirusk readies a scimitar in his main hand and a tonfa in his off-hand. "Not ideal, but at least thisz one will be ready for either. Shall we search about the chambers?"
"Oh friend, you don't look so good; come to think of it, thisz one isn't feeling so well either", Sirusk mentions upon glancing at Cerastes. "Perahpsz we should rest for a minute and heal"
Searching this area reveals curtained off cubicles where acolytes resided. There is a small kitchen and the center structure is a toilet facility.
There is little left besides the larger furnishings like chairs, bedframes and footlockers. Things like clothes and bedding have long since decayed away. There is nothing left of valuable metal, crystals or magic; all since looted long ago.
The only other accessway to this section is a corridor leading north.
When you are ready, you travel up the north corridor.
The short hallway connects a shallow, empty pool to the west to two curtained cubicles to the east.
A wooden bench is bolted to the floor in a small alcove across from the pool.
A set of stone doors marked with hieroglyphs stands to the north.
Sirusk continues ahead with a scimitar in one hand and a tonfa in the other, plus their matching pairs ready at his side. Interesting for sure. Why would one secure a chair to the floor in front of this pool? Sssomeone check if itsz magical, pleasez.
?
If the pool is clear, Sirusk takes a cursory stroll around it.
If it is murky, he will wait for the detect magic result.
Either way,
The pool is clear.
Detect Magic reads negative.
Looking around more carefully, you see that two corpses have been dragged into the northern cubicle here.
One is a pile of bare bones kicked unceremoniously out of the way, and the other is a rotting, but still intact, cadaver.
An old, broken scimitar lies nearby.
The bones are scorched and still warm to the touch, and the corpse has suffered a number of recent injuries.
Characters who examine the bodies check identify them as recently destroyed undead—a skeleton and zombie, respectively.
There are two exits out of this section.
The East exit and the North exit, both are double doors.
Hmm, not a great sign. Hopefully they stay dead, hah.
Thisz one is rotting; more recent death than the othersz then I would assume. Aren't these sites supposedz to be ssealed?
Sirusk attempts to determine where they have been dragged from...
Inferis nods at Sirusk's comments, "I agree. Something must have let them out....or created them more recently." Looking to their options, "Perhaps we should go to the north first."
The double doors leading north are locked.
They are also inscribed with Ancient Osiriani hieroglyphs that read...
They read, “High Priest Only—All Others Forbidden.”
You notice scratch marks around the lock, suggesting it has recently been picked.
"That soundsz promising. Perhapsz the high priest left some good sstuff around. Shall we check it out?"
Sirusk searches the door for traps and strains to see if he hears any commotion on the other side.
"That looks promising. Let's check it out."
After one of you deals with the lock, it opens for you.
This sparsely furnished room contains a bed frame bolted to the floor in the southwest corner next to a lacquered end table.
On the opposite side of the room, a wooden desk has partially collapsed against the wall.
Doors exit the room to the north, east, and south.
Sirusk nods in agreement with Cerastes as the oracle motions to the eastern doorway. He quietly strides over and checks the door out.
The door is not trapped or locked.
When opened you see:
Rows of stone shelves fill this crowded room.
Most of the books and scrolls once stored here have disintegrated over time, but a few volumes engraved on more durable materials still endure.
Numerous scroll tubes litter the floor of the room amid the dusty remains of ruined paper and papyrus.
Library Overview
"Even if not magical, there maybe something of value."
You find an unrolled papyrus scroll discarded and crumpled on the floor.
It is written in Ancient Osiriani.
Tracks reveal that as many as four people were present in this area within the last 24 hours.
You discover a secret panel in the western wall of the library.
The panel is locked but not trapped, and opening it requires
a successful DC 20 Disable Device check.
Sirusk wanders about the room, searching for anything of interest. A crumpled and unrolled papyrus scroll catches his eye, and Sirusk picks it up. Unrolling it, Sirusk cannot tell what languages it is in.
"Friendsz, I found something maybe interesting. An unrolled scroll, but I cannot read the obscure writing." With that, Sirusk holds the scroll out for anyone else to take and see if they can make anything out.
Rosalind glances at the debris, then wanders the room looking at the shelves, running her fingers along the intricate stonework. They tingle as she moves over a secret door near one of the walls.
"This must have been glorious once. How did they set these shelves in the floor here? Ah, I sound like a Dwarf. There's worse things I suppose. This really is beautifully jointed, barely any seams. Wait, what's this? A moment friends, there's some kind of door here let me as Kurgess if it is trapped."
Her voice fades as she flattens her palms against the stone concentrating, her gaze fixed in space.
"Perhapz this one should have checked thisz side of the door before you touched it...", Sirusk cautions his good friend warily. "So, what do you ssee?
The thick scroll describes, in Ancient Osiriani, how magicians of Osirion’s First Age could alter elementals to new forms and purposes.
The text describes the concept of an "ahkhat" and the “keystone” that binds it to a building and pacifies it.
The scroll further mentions that such keystones were frequently built into the foundations of the structure and often concealed by secret doors.
*An ahkhat is an elemental entity that dwells within a
single building or structure, such as a monument, temple,
or manor. The floors and walls of this structure are the
ahkhat’s veins and arteries, and the doors and windows of
the building are the creature’s fingers and toes. An ahkhat
exists solely to maintain and protect its attuned structure.
Far from a mere house servant or magical butler, an ahkhat
is its structure’s consciousness incarnate.
*Ahkhats are bound to their structures via a special
keystone that’s intrinsically attuned to the ahkhat, and
they cannot leave the premises of their own volition.
Furthermore, ahkhats cannot move through or manipulate
structurally damaged parts of their attuned buildings, so
they have a vested interest in maintaining the integrity of
their demesnes.
*When an ahkhat manifests, most often it emerges from
a wall as a humanoid-like head, arms, and a torso that jut
out. While ahkhats can manifest full bodies as well, since
they cannot move away from their attuned structures, they
rarely have cause to.
*Since an ahkhat’s body is one with the structure it
embodies, it has no weight or size in and of itself. However,
most ahkhats can extend up to 3 feet away from their
resident structures; when emerging from the structure,
its physical form weighs about 100 pounds, though this
weight has no adverse effect on the structure itself.
Using your magic, your eyes peer through the stone of the concealed wall-safe into the cavity behind it. [ooc]It is locked (DC20 Disable Device) but not trapped.
You see several scroll tubes, a number of scrolls, a wand and a stone tablet.
|
The baritone of Cerastes voice fills the room as he translates aloud the contents of the scroll After he is done he ponders, "Do you suppose this structure is protected by an Ahkhat? I have seen no evidence so far but perhaps it is why it is such good condition. This scroll and knowledge in of itself is possibly valuable to the priests of Pharasma."
"This is a cleverly concealed cabinet, I think. It's dark, but there's definitely more stuff than passages."
Rosalind steps back and looks over the smooth stone once more.
"Ah sirusk you worrier. I was already looking for surprises when I found it. Anyone see how to unlock it? Ah, never mind. Here we are."
Rosalind opens the door slowly, nodding to Cerastes as he reads.
"I agree, they'll want to read it. If there truly is an ankaht here, we should be courteous. We might offer it its freedom in exchange for an account of the building of this place. I for one would love to know how they made such smooth seams. Ah, I must be part dwarf, or Kurgess is interested too."
"If ssuch a thing isz guarding thisz place, it hasz not made itself known yet; at least not viszibly. As Rose hasz hinted, we should surely be wary of offending such a creature asz it may yet be reasoned with. It would seem that the contents of the structure are of little concern over the structure itself, no?", Sirusk wonders out loud to Cerastes. "Do we know the motivations of such a creature? Would it want to be sset free? You did mention that the keystone 'pacifiesz' it..."
|
|
"Indeed, we should search carefully the areas we come across. The keystones are often well hidden and it would benefit us to have some control over the ahkhat should one exist in this place." He nods in agreement to Rose's suggestion, "Yes, I see no reason to aggravate such a guardian unnecessarily and it could indeed prove a useful ally. After all...who would know this places secrets better?"
Under Rosalind's skilled hands, the wall safe cracked open.
When she reached into the wall safe...
One of the innocuous-looking scrolls abruptly rises in the air, unraveling as it flew. It flited about with serpentine grace, baring its razor-sharp edges.
SURPRISE!
It whipped by Rosalind's face...
for a possible slashing and bleeding attack.
Round 1_________________
Players take their turn in order of posting, enemies will go last.
"We should kill it, we can mend the scroll if we don't reduce it to ashes. There's no reason to leave it animated while we're here, and there's no clue what others might come calling if we spend time wrestling it. After all the animated creatures we've already broken to bits, I'd think one more wouldn't phase you! Remember those tiny men?"
Suiting action to word, the greatsword comes around crashing against the scroll's case.
Sirusk splits the middle of the fledgling debate and moves up attacks with his blunt tonfa.
for
"Cerastes, friend, you look pretty bad. Be careful."
Round 1_________________
Cerastes____________
Glancing around the corner Cerastes quickly recovers from his surprise and yells, "Wait! It could hold valuable information!" The oracle runs forward and tries to grab the scroll and fold it up.
Rosalind Almati Thornbright______
"We should kill it, we can mend the scroll if we don't reduce it to ashes. There's no reason to leave it animated while we're here, and there's no clue what others might come calling if we spend time wrestling it. After all the animated creatures we've already broken to bits, I'd think one more wouldn't phase you! Remember those tiny men?"
Suiting action to word, the greatsword comes around crashing against the scroll's case.
Sirusk_________
Sirusk splits the middle of the fledgling debate and moves up attacks with his blunt tonfa. (can't see map at the moment, but I am assuming I can make it)
"Cerastes, friend, you look pretty bad. Be careful."
(npc) Ibrahim__________
Ibrahim pulls a wand and tosses it to Cerastes.
(npc) Inferis_________
Inferis cast a defensive spell.
Enemies__________________________
The flapping papyrus fluttered over to Cerastes and attacked!
for a possible plus the same in bleed damage plus Grapple.
When a guardian scroll grapples a creature, it entirely covers its opponent’s head with an airtight grip. A creature grappled by the scroll cannot see, speak, or cast spells with verbal components, and it must hold its breath (see Suffocation on page 445 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook).
Rosalind bleeds another 6 points.