[PFS/PbP Gameday 3] Destiny of the Sands Trilogy (Inactive)

Game Master Kludde

Race carefully approaches the crushed remains, using his sword to pull out the Wayfinder, then bends down to retrieve it.

The way finder is fully functional. The inside is engraved with a scarab and an inscription that reads “Congratulations, Asha. —V.L.”

The art on the walls of the room is decorative, with fanciful depictions of a royal barge sailing on the River Sphinx.

Insidion examines the corpse to see if the Pathfinder, or Wayfinder thief, was recently killed.

"This could have been here for a long, long time..." he mutters.

survival: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (5) - 2 = 3

The crushed corpse has been desiccated in the dry desert air, and has been naturally preserved. This woman has been dead for quite some time.

"Poor girl. I hope she died immediately after the column crushed her and didn't have to remain trapped under it for hours and days." After making certain the corpse is not animated, Annalísa will search it for anything else that might be important.

Afterwards, while examining the hall's walls, she chuckles at the depiction of the royal barge and comments "Those ancient kings definitely knew how to throw a big party."
Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

"Well...there are certain risks in our profession. I wonder who she was? May be she has a journal or something!?" Reinor sits near the body and searches the remains

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

"We definitely need to bring this wayfinder back to the lodge. I guess, they know who this Pathfinder is. Should we may be bury our former colleague?"

Swayaah looks intently at the corpse. "The desert preserves easily. Once this is over I'd like to bury her outside."

Then she takes a look around the room.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

The party notices that each of the pharaohs bears a depiction of three jewels on his or her head regalia: an emerald, topaz, and ruby.

V.L.... Where did you see those initials before?

"V.L. strikes again. This is the same person who signed the map that led us here. Who is Asha? Is it her?" Swayaah asks, still staring at the corpse.

Insidion looks at the corpse thoughtfully.

He looks at Swayaah. "Perhaps someone is sending people to their deaths for the fun of it...'Seeker's Folly' is not a very comforting name for those checking this place out. Perhaps more clues will reveal themselves nearby," he says as he moves toward the northern door and prepares to open it.

The northern passage does not contain a door, and therefore no hazard, and leads to an oasis of calmth.

The relaxing splash of water echoes throughout this tiled room. A large, pristine pool occupies much of the chamber, and a statue of a warrior-maiden serves as the centerpiece, endlessly pouring water from an ornate jar. A large carving on the east wall depicts a frightening man who stares at the viewer, with half his body burnt and ruined and the other half young and healthy. A withered corpse lies in the northwest corner. An open doorway to the south leads to the fortress’ entry hall.

Untrained Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11

"Hmm, the water must come from the river bed, or it would have stagnated already."

Looking at the statue, Swayaah notes "Hey, isn't that the god of magic, Nethys or something?"

Untrained Linguistics: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19 Linguistics is usually trained only. Swayaah doesn't know Ancient Osiriani.

Assuming nothing of interest happens, Swayaah elects to go east.

Swayaah recognises the god as Nethys, and takes note of the texts in the alcoves, although she is unable to decipher them (Texts are shown on the handout)

Also, make a perception check

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

"Poetic, even to his death."

"Scribble, scribble scribble." Swayaah takes note of the symbols while looking around the room.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

heal: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (5) - 2 = 3
perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Insidion checks out the corpse in the northwest corner. "A companion of the Pathfinder under the column, perhaps?" he asks.

Heal: 1d20 ⇒ 7
"This would be a relaxing place if not for that scary carving. And another corpse. I wonder what happened to him."

Annalísa will look around the corpse for anything interesting, then search it for any valuables after poking it with her rapier to make sure it won't suddenly animate.

"Hmm...another dead? Looks like this is a dangerous place..."

heal: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (7) - 1 = 6
[perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Insidion notices two things: first, there's a seam in the east wall, right between the two alcoves, which must be a secret passage, though there is no discernible latch to open the door.

Second, there's a water elemental lurking in the pond. Once spotted, it move to the shore, perches, and issues a warning in aquan:

What we wouldn't do for a polyglot right now.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

"Um...it looks like it's trying to warn us of something?" Swayaah attempts to greet it in Abyssal and if that fails, Elven. "Speak Common, damn it."

Heal: 1d20 ⇒ 4

"With all these different languages we need to know, it looks like we needed someone with a little more brains than we have," Dekion says as he looks at the elemental. "Since it hasn't attacked yet, unless one of you know what it said, I think we should back out of the room and leave it alone."

"I am happy to avoid conflict with this guardian at this point, but it may guard something of interest behind that secret door...should we move to the next room and come back later? Or confront it now?" Insidion asks, obviously not understanding its language, either.

The elemental shows no sign of hostile overtures, and its entirely possible to leave the room without incurring its wrath.

"I would rather avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Let's look around, as Insidion proposed, then come back here if we find no other lead. The secret door should be opened from somewhere, and we might be able to find from where while we continue exploring this place."

Annalísa will take 20 on Perception (for a total of 24), attempting to find a way to open the door.

There is no obvious trigger to opening the door that Annalisa spots, but the six cartouches - three in each alcove (See map) can be moved around individually.

"Hmm, this is the puzzle, isn't it? Move everything in the right order and the door opens. Move it in the wrong order and..." Swayaah grinds her palms together "Squish."

Any interesting designs on the cartouches?

"Remember the pharaohs in the hallway? I wonder if that's a clue to how we should arrange these things..."

Swayaah approaches the cartouches and sees if the water elemental pays attention to her. Maybe it's benevolent and will warn her from doing something stupid?

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

The design on the cartouches are shown on the map (the hieroglyphics on the whole side and hieroglyphics on the burnt side.

The water elemental hisses expectantly as Swayaah reaches out to the cartouches. It looks poised to pounce on the tiefling should she touch any of the hieroglyphics. It's almost as if it's hoping she'll touch the cartouches.

"Well, hun. Looks like this thing is not quite friendly" Reinor addressed Swayaah "Can you hand me one of them alchemists fires, we found earlier? I bet, this thing would looove some of it"

"Oh, I see where this is going. The anxiety is going to kill me."

Handing a flask of alchemist's fire Reinor, Swayaah steps away from the wall and grabs her morningstar. "Wait, were we going to avoid bloodshed? I forget."

"I think we should investigate the rest of this place and see if there is a way around...then we come back and help this thing evaporate," Insidion ventures.

"I agree. The elemental itself doesn't seem to have anything worth stealing, so if we can find a way around we can avoid killing it and risking ourselves while still getting whatever treasure is hidden in that room."

"Oh, fine."Swayaah mumbles as she puts away her morningstar."'The best fight is the one that didn't happen.' Yeah yeah, dad."

"So, should we try the double doors?"

Race will make his way towards the double doors with the others, turning to walk backwards, keeping his blade in the direction of the elemental in case it decides to get frisky.

Therefore he doesn't realize when they've arrived, and steps on Insidion's tail.

Insidion snarls viciously as Race steps on his tale; the volatile creature does not seem one to upset, even unintentionally. He somehow manages to refrain from lashing out, however.

intimidate: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

"Watch yourself, human," the tiefling growls.

Angry, Insidion opens the double doors and enters.

Race involuntarily swallows as he gazes into the face of Hell. "Sorry," he stammers at the advancing tiefling.

Swayaah barely stifles a giggle as she reflexively wraps her tail around her waist. "Tails are pretty sensitive, you know. Insidion's a sensitive man."

That was scary. I better take care of not doing anything like that, as he seems so moody and angry, Annalísa thinks to herself while conjuring up images of Insidion ripping his enemies during combat. She proceeds with the others towards the double doors, stopping next to Race to squeeze his shoulder as a sign of support.

Race jumps a couple inches into the air.

I think I'll have slow posts more often. Very enjoyable little exchange...

The double doors opens to a natural cavern. The ceiling of this natural cavern sparkles with thousands of tiny crystals, while the center of the cave is split by a chasm that wends deeper underground. A stone bridge stretches over the gap. At the center of the bridge rises a black granite obelisk, covered with gems and hieroglyphics. The obelisk is a masterpiece of sculpture, with flawless lines and beautifully rendered images of the past. Large double doors provide an exit to the north while an open archway to the south is covered with wall carvings and leads to a hallway.

Swayaah enters the room and approaches the obelisk, planning to see if the hieroglyphs match up to anything she drew. Swayaah is definitely not touching any of those jewels.

The obelisk on the bridge details the history of Osirion. The hieroglyphics are masterfully rendered, and the gems set in the figures’ eyes gleam in the light.

Suddenly, the jewelled eyes all turn to look straight at Swayaah. Spirits pour out of the obelisk, and a wave of desert heat washes over the area. The spirits dive at Swayaah..

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

Meanwhile, all around Swayaah see visions of the dead rising up from ancient tombs, armies of divs marching forth from a massive structure of black stone, and a plague of locusts sweeping over the land.

Will Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21 +2 bonus if this is a spell with the Evil descriptor. Good dice, extra biscuit for you!

"No touching this thing. There's gotta be a reason why no one has ever picked...this...cle.."

Swaayah's eyes are wide open and her iris and sclera switch colors as she quickly freezes in place and gives a thousand yard stare.

Dekion shakes his head as he sees the symbols on the obelisk. "Great, more gibberish that we can't read." He looks around the cavern, wary of potential danger.

perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

Annalísa shudders as the spirits seem to come out of the obelisk. She closes her eyes, trying to ignore the visions of the walking dead and locust plagues before forcing herself to open them in order to remain aware of any possible attacks. After a few seconds, she looks at the others and slowly proceeds towards the obelisk, making sure someone is following her. Once there, she examines the symbols and attempts to decipher them alongside Dekion.

Perception, aid another: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

Deion spots a faint light, 50 feet down in the chasm below, and finds it is a nearly spent way finder that sheds light like a candle. At the bottom of the chasm is the dry, crumpled remains of another Pathfinder. It seems like a whole team of pathfinders perished in these halls.

Race sword twitches from one vision to the next. As he notices Swayaah's distant look, fearing a reaction to the spirit attack, he goes to her and tries to shake her out of it.

Insidion looks like a caged animal as he looks at the visions of the dead armies circling them. He snarls and snaps at the air.

Carefully, he looks around for anything that might make it stop. The dead Pathfinders here certainly seem ominous.

perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Rainor stood silently and watched the dead march with his eyes opened wide.
"Emm...Swayaah...hun...what did you do?" he asked quietly.

After some time of watching the "show", Reinor started looking around.

"Dead people really freak me out. Lets get out of here!"

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

The strange visions disappear after about half a minute, leaving the hall quiet again. An archway forms the exit to the hall, to the south.

Swayaah is staring into nothingness as Reinor and Race approach. She quickly pivots towards them with her claws out.

Intimidate: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

Swayaah lets out a loud, unearthly scream of primal rage. The room is quiet for a second before her eyes finally return to normal. "Remember...something...I forgot." Then she remembers she's in a fighting pose and quickly stands back up and shakes her hands. "Sorry about that. I was a real rage case when I was young." Awkward cough."Like I said, no one touch this thing."

"How about we go down there? I'm beginning to think the other adventurers got here but weren't as lucky..."