GMEDWIN |
A bidding war erupts between the PCs, the Paricount, Arch Docent and the Crook Bearer. Eventually the Stones goes to the Arch Docent from the museum for 750 gps.
Well, it looks as though the museum does have some money. Congratulations. And the last item up for bid are the scrolls that the Paracount proclaimed fraudulent. says the Auction master, you can see his face redden up in embarrassment.
GMEDWIN |
Noone except a strange halfling looks even mildly interested in buying the scrolls but he taps out after 5 gp. You are able to pick up the lot for 7 Gp.
Congratulations to the man with goattee! as the Kemesarian wipes off his forehead from embarassment. I would like to thank you all for coming out tonight and hope to see you in the future!
Kirsteen |
Updating equipment and money sections to show the statue's purchase. Shall I hold onto the scrolls as well? I may add a few more things to her equipment list as well before they head out. I don't think she has enough random things for a trek through the desert to show how inexperienced she is. I keep picturing that scene from Spaceballs with the giant hairdryer...
GMEDWIN |
As the majority of the people have left, especially the three main antagonists in today's auction leave. A beautiful half-elf woman with a white scarf covering her face slips over to Cooper and gently taps him on the shoulder unraveling a map.
Excuse me, I was looking for the Eye of Sothis, would you happen to know how to get there from here?
She somewhat subtly taps her map and you are able to see a pathfinder rune emblazoned on it. She then whispers Keep it cool, I am not sure if you are being followed. Just play along. I am the Mithral Scab
She then continues I cannot for the life of me read these cotton pickin things, could you escort me there you strong man as she glides her hand down your forearm.
Alistair Cooper |
are you determined to see Kirsteen slap me silly?
Alistair first stares at her for a moment lost in her eyes then suddenly snaps back. he glances around noticing Kirsteen talking to a few other people (at least hoping she is not watching him right now)
I'm sorry, you said The Eye? certainly its ... ahhh... no wait maybe faster .... he looks about as if trying to figure the best way to get there.
maybe its better I show you, these streets can be very confusing at times
Alistair will "escort" her making sure to pass by some of the other party members trying to signal them to follow.
bluff to pass a hidden message to thhe party members he passes 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16
Kirsteen |
Kirsteen follows Khaldrun up and he goes to fetch the scrolls he had won. "I really want a real astronomer to give these scrolls a good looking over. They may have just been so far over that man's head that he just had to assume they were fake because he couldn't understand them and his ego couldn't handle that. Or maybe they were just written to pass along a secrete message. Wouldn't that be absolutely fascinating to decipher?"
Khaldrun and the others are spared from any further ramblings as Kirsteen finally notices the woman talking to Cooper. Her brow furrows and eyes narrow as she tries to decide whether to walk over to them or to just ignore him for now. Before she can make up her mind, Kirsteen notices Cooper signaling them to follow him. Follow him? Oh, right. In all the excitement of the auction I completely forgot we were supposed to be meeting someone here. Perhaps Cooper is making contact now and the woman is going to lead us to where the "Scab" is. Either that or someone knows we are here to meet the "Scab" and are planning on luring us away one by one to kill. Either way, we should follow him.
Kirsteen gathers up her statue and looks to the others to see if they noticed Cooper leaving, if not she gets their attention before moving to follow after him at a discrete distance.
Khaldrun the Rapid |
Khaldrun to notes Alistair's latest flirtation, honestly the man flits like a hummingbird, but quickly realizes what is afoot once the Captain beckons. Picking up the scrolls and stowing them carefully away, he responds to Kirsteen,
"Indeed, fake or not they may still hold value. If they are a copy of a genuine item then they impart the same information. Whatever the case someone went to a great deal of time and effort to craft them, they are worth a deal more than we paid - to me at least."
The wizard reaches down and scoops Azule up int eh crook of his arm walking beside Kirsteen.
GMEDWIN |
Mithral Scab leads you in and out and through a great deal of the bazaar and then stops at a tent with an old lady in it.
Mithral Scab turns to the group and says "Before we meet Raegos, he requires that you leave any paper, books or maps here or he won't meet with you. Mila here will watch it for you."
Mila looks at Cooper "I haven't seen you in years, what does the lodge have you doing now, I am in semi-retirement"
Lanfear Xinskarr The Hydra |
Lanfear reappears from the crowd.
I see we found our contact.
I wonder why this man Raegos have such aversion to writing. It seems what he is to share is of grave importance
GMEDWIN |
Mithral Scab continues, Look, he is an old man and he is a bit paranoid and he is afraid of writing and especially hieroglyphs. You will get your stuff back. I saw that y'all were very successful during the auction and have acquired stuff with ancient osironi on it, his assistance is what we need to get to be the first to the pyramids.
Torsk
Khaldrun the Rapid |
Khaldrun's lips goes thin,
"You expect a wizard to hand over his spellbooks? No. If needs must I will remain here, but I fail to see how this Raegos would tell the difference between writings being in my pack and not."
Alistair Cooper |
Mila looks at Cooper "I haven't seen you in years, what does the lodge have you doing now, I am in semi-retirement"
been in the field, teamed up with Kalim and his desert nomads to protect the southern trade routes. made Captain in the militia. he replies
Khaldrun the Rapid |
Khaldrun's scowl deepens, but he set Azule down next to Kirsteen and chitters at the little dinosaur for a moment, before speaking to his companions,
"I shall stay as close as I can, if there is any danger Azule with alert me to it through our bond and I shall be there in an instant. They do not call me Khaldrun the rapid for naught."
A little pedantic I know, but I really don't think Khaldrun in invested enough in his mission at this point to abandon his spellbooks for even a second. Hopefully we will be fairly nearby and as soon as Azule feels danger he can sense it through the bond and teleport in.
Kirsteen |
"Hmmm...anything with writing...." Kirsteen digs about in her pack for several minutes, digging out about a dozen scrolls in addition to the cobra/man statue she won in the auction. Pointing to its chest, she asks: "Would this upset him too?" If yes, she puts it by her scrolls and then adds a little notebook to the pile as well.
"Ok, I believe that's all I have."
She'll bend down to give Azule a little pat.
Side note about Azule: There's an episode of "Dino Dan" entitled "There's a Compsognathus under my bed." My dinosaur obsessed little boys love that show."
GMEDWIN |
It has ancient Osirani on it, its a definite no go. she then returns to Khaldrun, I empathize with you, i cannot bring my spell books either
You, minus Khaldrun, follow the Scab for another twenty minutes and then you come to a tent on the western side of the bazaar. She then taps the tent a few times and then you hear Mithie is that you?
She says Raegos, of course its me. I brought a few of my colleagues with me.
The man says Do come in!
Inside this battered gray tent is a home of
humble means, complete with a small cooking
fire. The tent’s hominess is disturbed, however,
by dozens of strands of string, intertwining in
a complex web as they run from the various
pieces of furniture to the bed at the back of
the tent.
Inside you see an old grizzled Osirani man with a five o'clock shadow, long gray hair and a blindfold over his eyes. He slowly with shivering hands pulls up his blindfold to his forehead making it look more like a do-rag.
Raegos, at your service, welcome, who might you be?
GMEDWIN |
Raegos scratches his head, Well I was born here in Sothis in the 4633, during the reign of Khemet the first. He was a very wise ruler and he would ride his camel and give food to children. Sothis has been relatively peaceful and I was always an inquisitive tike, so after doing a stint in the Osiran army, I became a merc in the Mwangi Expanse. I really loved the town of Kibwe... he trails off in contemplation....
Alistair Cooper |
while waiting to meet Raegs
well, Milla, I see you're doing well, we'll have to spend some time and catch up. maybe dinner and I can introduce you to some the new agents here.
He leans close to whisper to Milla
there is one in particulr I want you to meet let me know what you think
Alistar leaves anything he has with ancient Osirani, including his journal book.
After entering
I am Captain Alistair Cooper, while story is most amazing we would like to concentrate our efforts on the pyramids of ascension and the 4 Pharoahs
Khaldrun the Rapid |
Khladrun asks the Scab,
"Can you not simply let me stay outside out of the old man's sight? I wish to be close at hand, just in case anything dangerous occurs. Surely that could not frighten him as neither I nor the writings would enter his presense."
If he is in the bizarre there are bound to be writings as close to him as Khaldrun would be waiting outside I would think.
Kirsteen |
Diplomacy 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23
With an apologetic look towards Cooper, Kirsteen interrupts. "Your pardon sir, but Captain Cooper is a soldier. They do tend to be a bit blunt and short of patience. I am sure that you have seen a great many fascinating things in your lifetime, but regrettably I do not think we only have today to listen to your wisdom. Perhaps you could focus today's story upon the pyramids of ascension and the 4 Pharoahs for us?"
Pity the man doesn't like the written word. I am sure he could pen a great many interesting stories for the library.
Khaldrun the Rapid |
"Well by all means if he can smell paper from outside he must be an amazing individual. I am sure nobody within a hundred feet of his location has any, that seems very likely," Khaldrun says his words oozing with sarcasm. "I shall hold our possessions since I needs must remain behind, no need for Mila to trouble herself," but he allows them to depart without him, after a last chirp with Azule.
He then chants while placing his hand, and making a fan-like motion with his free hand, on the tiny dinosaur and she nods before moving off to follow Kirsteen.
Once the group have been gone for a minute Khaldrun begins moving in the rough direction he sense his familiar in ignoring Mila - anxious to be close at hand should trouble arise. He can smell paper indeed, well I can smell ox dung, and I smell a cart load of it here.
Casts Vanish allowing Azule to deliver the charge when she wishes as per the deliver touch spells ability.
Alistair Cooper |
this is a diplomacy check to see if Alistair can actually be nicer than Kirsteen 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22
EDIT: Oh so close, but he definatly is charming
Alistair gives Kirsteen the floor. he obviously isn't quite sure how to take the soldier remark.
Well she is right, I am a soldier but I thought I was more than that. I hope she sees more to me than that
Khaldrun the Rapid |
Frustrated and fuming Khaldrun returns, shooting the umpteenth merchant to try to sell him a hat an icy glower and folding his arms. Arms folded he contents himself with concentrating upon Azule's emotions through the bond.
This is pretty much a case of my nightmare - I hate splitting the party it always seems to end horribly - vs Khaldrun's nightmare, loosing his spellbooks, lol. I hope this guy doesn't try to eat you guys!
GMEDWIN |
As Khaldrun gets back to Milla's tent he can hear that there is a conversation going on between the woman and a man.
With everyone else
Raegos scratches his head, Aha, I understand. We soldiers are all the same, hahaha, a captain as well, let me introduce myself to you fully. Lt. Colonel Raegos Malamet, retired. Soldiering and adventuring are quite similar, no?
He goes to the corner of his tent a brandishes a bottle of single malt Irrisenian whisky and pours each of you a dram. He takes a hefty pull and then says, Pyramids of the Ascension, that place haunts me to this day, well I was hired by an elderly scholar named Imivus to
fill out his expedition. He brought ten of us with
him, a number he said was important. Imivus
had a preference for those with reputations
for following orders and asking few questions.
I was young, foolish, and desperate for coin.
I remember Imivus was always in a hurry.
He might have been an astronomer, because
he seemed obsessed with the idea that his
campaign could only succeed while something
called the Ringed Planet was in its ascendancy
and that his window of time was waning.
He never really explained and we didn’t ask.
What he did tell us was that the pyramid of
the Four Pharaohs of Ascension was hidden
on another plane of existence. I don’t know
where, I just knew enough from the scholar’s
description to know that it was a horrible
place. Imivus explained that the pharaohs
thought they would live forever after they
crossed into the afterlife, so they designed
a funeral mask that would enable them
to call the pyramid back to our world once
again, in case they ever needed to return.
I remember the mask well enough. It
was inlayed with gold and adorned with a
headdress of feathers, dyed both red and black.
After Imivus brought us miles to the southeast,
to the base of four pyramids exposed by a
sandstorm, he put on the mask. There was a
great shimmer of light and a gigantic pyramid
suddenly materialized in between the other four.
The pyramid was a massive temple of
green stone. I’d never seen anything like it
before. Once deep inside, Imivus’s apprentice
deciphered several of the inscriptions that
littered the walls and floors. According to the
inscriptions, the four pharaohs had declared
that all intruders would be doomed to live
out their existence as eternal guardians of
the tomb. Apparently, anyone who saw the
four symbols of the pharaohs’ namesakes
would forever become enslaved monsters.
At first I thought it was bluster designed
to scare off thieves. I remember that Imivus
ordered us to simply ignore the first few
symbols as we came across them inside the tomb. But then Seraton, the party bowman,
suddenly cried out in alarm, warning the
rest of us to avert our eyes—he had seen the
fourth and final rune. Moments later, Seraton
transformed. He became a withered husk,
like the embalmed bodies we had expected
to find. And he was filled with a terrible,
smoldering anger. I remember Seraton
driving his entire arm through Imivus’s
chest, exploding him into dust. As Imivus
disintegrated, the funeral mask landed at my
feet. I still don’t know why I did, but I remember
grabbing the mask and running for my life.
Everyone else followed. I remember the
long terrible run back through the pyramid
shaft to the exit, our numbers growing fewer
and fewer each time I looked back. It was
as though somehow the pyramid itself was
pulling everyone else back into the clutches of
the monster that Seraton had become. Only I
escaped. Probably because I was lucky enough
to have grabbed the mask. afterward he drinks his whisky till the end and pours himself another glass.
Please give me a check or ask him any questions you like
GMEDWIN |
Kirsteen
You have heard that the pyramids of ascension only are accessable to our plane once every fifty years.
Alistair Cooper |
Upon hearing about the sale of the mask Alistair tries to recal anything from his antiquities smuggling days
Knowledge local 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9 to recall info about the mask in the marketplace
Knowledge nobility 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16 for any information about the mask being in the hands of a noble family and becuase I have the skill and never get to roll it
Torsk |
Can someone 'search' their memory banks for knowledge about what sort of monster Seraton turned into. I not knowledgeable in such matters but me hope someone else is. Torsk asks the group politely because he's hoping someone will come up with something.
I can't make the check because all knowledge are trained only and I have a 8 intelligence so i didn't bother with knowledge lol.
GMEDWIN |
Khaldrun
Kirsteen
GM Rolls
Lanfear 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Kirsteen 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Cooper 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21
Xaven Stealth 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (13) + 13 = 26
Torsk notices a silhouette of a halfling against the side of the tent.
Kirsteen |
"Khaldrun is most likely the most knowledgeable of us in this area. We will give him a full description when we meet up with him again. As for the mask, I think that I may have seen something resembling its description before. Though I have no idea if it is still there, it could be a possible lead and worth investigating."