The Pact Stone Pyramid
Game Master Pact Stone GM

Hal meant Thalia certainly not Jason! Jason gave everything he had to the Dune Squad.

-

The big issue now is whether Donkor's surprise second message changes the plan. Will the Infiltration team now leave the Scarab's slave tent and attempt to sack what we've been mutually calling the southeast guardpost in the middle of broad daylight - a rather bold plan? Or will they stick with the original plan and assault the position at dusk, a safer plan to be certain, but one which according to Donkor's message is simply too late.

Same question for the Ambush team. Only for them it is perhaps even trickier. They have an awful lot of ground to cover even if they start-out immediately, especially if they travel on foot. They could be late regardless. Worse, they will have to cancel Karek and Hurgah's decidely non-tandem bed-rest.

Man, it just gets rougher and rougher around here.

Hal is all for heading out and sacking the southeast area in broad daylight. Hopefully Beach and Gandel agree.

"Good. Hopefully the message will not be intercepted. They won't be able to respond, so we'll have to assume they understand."

Go easy on me as i have not played an alchemist before, but once DOnkor and Xerissa get close enough that they can see their destination, she uses he wand to cast alchemical allocation and then drinks her elixir of hiding to give her a +10 Stealth a boost. She will then give the elixir to the cleric for him to use.

Xerissa and Donkor make their way west, curling south, headed for Hal's rendezvous point. It should not be long now before you start to come within site of the first of the patrols.

As they travel, she can tell Donkor's armor will likely make slipping inside quietly very difficult. The elixir will help significantly though.

Yes, I think you've got that right, and it all looks good, but you have mark it as gone on your equipment list. While you're at it, scratch off two of the bird tokens Donkor has just used. Geeze do you have any other magic items you'd like to donate to the guy?

Hal is all for heading out and sacking the southeast area in broad daylight. Hopefully Beach and Gandel agree.

Breach will always agree to sacking any area whatsoever. :)

Seeing that a new plan is in the works, the Scarab gets ready for action. "We slipped in her in the dead of night. It will be much different now that it is morning," she remind everyone.

"Breach, is there any chance I can persuade you to let me roll up your armor and weapons in a carpet or hide them in a wicker basket for you to carry - at least until we get out of the camp and you can hide in the dunes? There's going to be a lot of people to pass by on our way out of here for the first several hundred feet. Not just slaves but also guards."

"I'll try to plot us a route to minimize the number of people we have to pass."

Looking to Hal she adds, "Once we hit the boundary of the camp and you strike out southeast, do you want me to come? Or should I head back here and wait to meet up again in the tent?" She smiles with a guilty expression. "If there's battle I am worried I could get in the way and wind up a hostage again."

Having been here for many days now, the Scarab does know this area better than any of you and could be a useful asset. She is a bit of a combat liability though and won't be offended if you want her out of the way this time. Just let me know. It's Scarab optional.

Halstadt Morgrym wrote:

Hal is all for heading out and sacking the southeast area in broad daylight. Hopefully Beach and Gandel agree.

Breach will always agree to sacking any area whatsoever. :)

-

"I would not want you to get hurt but do you want to get inside the Pyramid as well? I am not sure we can come back for you if you do".

Sounds like things are moving to get the group back together quicker than I thought. Gandel will remain with Breach, Hal, and Lydia as the group heads for the southeastern rendezvous point.

Even with the elixir, Sooron will toss his armour into his haversack before the journey. Let's head out!

Is it area effect spells that Karek fears or is it the buddy jokes that are gonna fall when the two of you start with the tandem sleeping?

You got me. Karek fears the stigma. "Lie down with half-humans, and the dwarves will ridicule you until you have to resign from the race in shame," I think it goes. Orcs are cool, though. It's all manly.

In other news, Karek probably won't get his rest after all. It's sounding like we'll move out to rendevous with the team. Karek, for his part, is pretty good on rage rounds. Hurgah will be screwed, though. Maybe we should wait for him.

Even with the elixir, Sooron will toss his armour into his haversack before the journey. Let's head out!

Xerissa is on the move with Donkor.

Hey! perception is a class skill for the alchemist. W00t!

1d20 + 12 ⇒ (6) + 12 = 18

The note on the paper is as follows:

"A new ally has found us, the daughter of an old friend. She and Krenshar have been scouting dig site with magic, and have a plan to get us in disguised as a delegation from Khymrasa. Delegation leaving soon, so sunset rendezvous is too late. Proceed to southeast meeting point as soon as possible. Bunky found me last night, so hoping Karek is okay. Sending this message to Hastadt and Moonpate, in case you are still separated.

May Pharasma's Grace see us all together soon.

Sooron"

Surprised at the sudden appearance of such a creature being present in this cursed desert, and even more surprised at it landing on his shoulder, Moonpate jerks in a spasm that almost sends his ungainly bulk rolling down the dune. He recovers his aplomb, thankful that his companions weren't awake to witness his reaction. Then, noticing the note, he gingerly accepts it from the arcane bird and with a gulp, unrolls it to read the contents. His thick, bushy eyebrows rise high in more surprise and then he sighs deeply knowing that he must now wake his exhausted comrades to share this amazing news. Perhaps, there will be some divine means to refresh their bodies and minds once we are all united again. Or, at the least, maybe the infiltration team will have secured some decent food and drink to ease the distraction team's discomfort.

Softly, so as not to startle his fierce protector: "Friend Hurgah,..."

He will awaken Hurgah first, hand him the note, and then awaken Karek.

Oh my god, he gave me the keys to the Ferrari! I’m sure there won’t be a scratch on it when I bring it back.

Softly, so as not to startle his fierce protector: "Friend Hurgah,..."

-

Moonpate hands him Donkor’s note. The Reaver looks rather comical as his talon-like hands fumble with the tiny folded missive.“Gah!” he says crumpling the note in two fingers. “Wake the dwarf then wizard. We move!”

While he waits for Moonpate to rouse Karek on the other side of the petrified dune, Hurgah thinks further on this to himself. “This was no sending spell. He did not recall Donkor employing such messaging magic. How would they know if this note was really from him? This could be a trap from the assassin who hounded him last night.”

“No,” he thought to himself. “The message referred to Krenshar and Bunky. If it was a fake, it was incredibly well scripted. He would be wise to assume it was real.”

He watched as Karek awoke, the dwarf not having had much more than a handful of minutes of sleep. Perhaps knowing his useless fuzz-ball companion had been found would rejuvenate him.

“We are far,” Hurgah said as though the implications of his understatement were obvious. “The dwarf’s legs are too stubby for us to arrive in time. Will we use conjured steeds? Or fly?”

"I would not want you to get hurt but do you want to get inside the Pyramid as well? I am not sure we can come back for you if you do".

-

The Scarab’s eyes widen. She had never meant to enter Ahn’Sehlota herself. No dungeon delver herself, such things were best left to the professionals.

This was though, far beyond any emergency he Scarab had ever encountered. The very Pacstone itself was at stake. She would have to rise to the occasion. She found herself taking courage from Gandel. The halfling, after all, was an archivist, a bookworm. Yet he seemed downright excited about the prospect of entering what may well be Osirion’s most dangerous tomb.

She answers Halstadt. “I had not meant to, uh, do that either. But I know you are down some team members. I will come,” she says, hoping she sounded more confident than she was.

These last few days she had accomplished far more on her own than she had ever done on any of her other supportive roles. Perhaps it was time to push her limits just a bit further. . .

Hal places a hand gently on Lydia's shoulder sensing her apprehension, "I will do what I can to ensure no harm comes to you Lydia but know that I will sacrifice myself if I must to stop this evil from rising".

Hmm that was not very reassuring let me try that again. Hal attempts to comfort her but his words falter he has spoken the truth and Angradd will not let him lie even if it is to give false hope to an innocent. With that he turns to Breach and Gandel, "If you are both ready I know I am".

“We are far,” Hurgah said as though the implications of his understatement were obvious. “The dwarf’s legs are too stubby for us to arrive in time. Will we use conjured steeds? Or fly?”

At the mention of conjured mounts, Moonpate the not-so Potentate slaps his broad forehead in exasperation.

He pauses a moment, squeezes his jowls with one hand in his habitual manner when pondering mighty perplexities, and then arches his right eyebrow in a sign of potential triumph.
"Hmmm, there may yet be a way that we could at least let our shorter companion travel at our pace, and in style to boot. I have in my possession an old arcane scroll detailing an incantation that can produce a floating disc of force. This disc will follow me and we can perch Karek atop to ride in comfort, like a dwarven noble upon an invisible palanquin. Karek can even doze off and dream of banquet halls and beer gardens."
At that last thought, Moonpate frowns with longing and disappointment. "What a shame that we could not all ride upon the disc and so approach the pyramid like gen ambassadors coming to chastise the blasphemous Kyhmrasa and her curs. A spell variant I must surely work on once I am back in the blissful comfort of my study."

Seeing that a new plan is in the works, the Scarab gets ready for action. "We slipped in her in the dead of night. It will be much different now that it is morning," she remind everyone.

"Breach, is there any chance I can persuade you to let me roll up your armor and weapons in a carpet or hide them in a wicker basket for you to carry - at least until we get out of the camp and you can hide in the dunes? There's going to be a lot of people to pass by on our way out of here for the first several hundred feet. Not just slaves but also guards."

"I'll try to plot us a route to minimize the number of people we have to pass."

Breach raises an eyebrow as he stares at her coldly. After a moment of awkward silence, he relents. "Alright, lass, I'll go with your plan. But let the record show I'm not for likin' it. Don't feel right without me armor or weapons." He then proceeds to remove his armor and weapons.

"Yeah, don't you be fearin', lass. Ol' Breach'll be watchin' out for ya." He nods firmly. "I'm ready, Morgrym."

"I'm good to go, Hal," Gandel says cheerily.

Hal turns to Lydia, "Lead the way my dear we will be right behind you despite our discomfort". Hal nods to Breach to assure him that he too is not very comfortable wandeing around without armor or weapons readily available.

. . ."Hmmm, there may yet be a way that we could at least let our shorter companion travel at our pace, and in style to boot. I have in my possession an old arcane scroll detailing an incantation that can produce a floating disc of force. This disc will follow me and we can perch Karek atop to ride in comfort, like a dwarven noble upon an invisible palanquin. Karek can even doze off and dream of banquet halls and beer gardens.". . .

-

I see now that Phrip loaded up on offence instead of his transport spells, which made sense with the original plan. (I blame Donkor.)

That leaves it an unfortunate unknown as to whether it is still possible for the Distraction team to make it to actually make it to Hal's designated point in time. Karek could try overland running and double his speed to 40 that way, but without a cleric they lack the Dune Squad's patented anti-fatigue hustle method. Maybe it's time to see how tough Karek really is. You might be able to cut down the (assumed) five hour hike ahead of you down to three hours.

“Leaving the Slave Camp”

The Mithral Scarab guides Gandel, Hal and Breach as they snake through the camp, walking from tent to tent, trying to keep out of sight as much as possible. Nevertheless, they are repeatedly spotted. It is simply too densely populated an area. More than one group of slaves waves to the Scarab and even one band invites you over to their campfire for breakfast. However, the Scarab does manage to plot a course away from the eyes of any soldiers or slavers. You quickly learn that a number of small patrols of soldiers march through the camp at odd intervals. They do not seem overly shy about peeking into the slave tents either.

After a few minutes you reach the edge of the tent city. The Scarab gives a signal and sprints out of the camp trying to disappear into the maze of desert dunes. Everyone follows and afterwards the Scarab performs a repeat of her unseen servant trick, doing what she can to make your tracks in the final sprint disappear. You can’t help but notice though that this stunt of hers is much less effective in the morning than it was in last night’s darkness.
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OOC: Collectively this quartet has pretty solid Stealth scores. With the rogue levels, low armor penalties, Gandel's size bonus, and Hal’s magic items you are all feeling pretty confident. You are well suited to this task. At this point the Scarab will let you unpack your weapons and armor. She suggests you bury the blankets and baskets, unless you would prefer to carry them with you.

"Stay on the lookout for those floating eye balls. They are hard to spot. As we get further from the pyramid they will become fewer and fewer, but for now, they could be lurking amongst the dunes."

She reaches out with her hand trying to use her magic to see if she can detect any sign of them.

OOC: Casts detect magic periodically as she moves forward.

She reaches out with her hand trying to use her magic to see if she can detect any sign of them.

OOC: Casts detect magic periodically as she moves forward.

A good precaution. Gandel will do the same.

Karek is annoyed at being awoken after precious few minutes of sleep, but upon hearing or reading about Bunky, he is alert and raring to go. One o ya helb me inda m'armor. We'll meed'em, and den sleeb. I'll hurry da keeb'ub.

Oh, joy. More hustling. Karek's up for it. If he needs to rage, well, he still has a healing potion.

“The Southern Security”

As Gandel, Hal, Breach and the Mithral Scarab approach the southeast end of the camp, creeping over the dunes, they have a lengthy opportunity to study the security. They have secured the advantage in that the camp guards are generally focussed outwards, away from them. Donkor and Xerissa can make the same observations below, but the guards spend most of their time facing their direction:

"Well if necessary I can create a distraction to occupy the attention of the Camel Riders. Provided that we can sneak up from behind unseen I can also handle the signal horns. I guess the real question becomes when should we make our move. I we move too soon we will be sitting on that dune in plain sight of the camel riders once they deal with the distraction. Ideas?"

The ambush team heads out, doing the very best it can.

Hurgah walks, while Karek has to do a complete hustle to match him, pumping his stubby legs in a jog. Moonpate has to hustle a third of the time – let’s call it a power walk.

Thanks to Moonpate’s protective magics, they will survive the oppressive heat, but Karek is still left running in armor, an exhausting ordeal even for a dwarf of his exceptional strength.

The further drawback is that it is impossible to achieve any stealth at this pace. The team leaves a small sandy dust cloud in its wake which is probably visible at quite some distance, to say nothing of the light glinting off the dwarf’s full-plate and the wizard’s balding head. Hopefully there is nobody out there with you. . .

The further drawback is that it is impossible to achieve any stealth at this pace. The team leaves a small sandy dust cloud in its wake which is probably visible at quite some distance, to say nothing of the light glinting off the dwarf’s full-plate and the wizard’s balding head. Hopefully there is nobody out there with you. . .

Oh, don't pretend we were going to not be seen by the first thing to come along.

"Well if necessary I can create a distraction to occupy the attention of the Camel Riders. Provided that we can sneak up from behind unseen I can also handle the signal horns. I guess the real question becomes when should we make our move. I we move too soon we will be sitting on that dune in plain sight of the camel riders once they deal with the distraction. Ideas?"

-

Karek’s joints begin to ache from the constant pounding inside his inflexible armor. After the first hour he feels like he is running on cobblestone instead of sand. His knees are especially sore and he has a nagging pain in his left hip which he has never before experienced. The burning sensation inside his lungs is surely permanent. Could he be getting old? He presses on.
-----
On hour 2, Karek takes - wait for it – 1 point of non-lethal damage. However, he is also fatigued. He can no longer run or charge and takes a penalty of –2 to Strength and Dexterity. He can though still hustle (double move) and any proper source of healing will eliminate the fatigue condition. That reminds me, did anyone ever see the Karek picture I added in the campaign info a while back? It's pretty awesome, if I say so myself.

Neither Hurgah nor Moonpate suffer any adverse game effects on hour 2. Moonpate though does feel rather sick from all this exertion and Hurgah is rather annoyed at the slow pace.

"Need to take a break, Karek?" chortles Hurgah as he lopes along seemingly effortlessly. "Perhaps we could stop and you could get a manicure."

-
Cool idea Phrip. I think it is problematic though. If I follow you correctly, Moonpate is trying to cast floating disc with his scroll, which, unless specified, will have the minimum caster level. In this case that's only level 1, which means the magic disc actually only supports 100 pounds. I don't that's enough to carry Karek and all his equipment. If he cast it as a spell it would transport 700 pounds and that would probably work.

If Moon was the creator of the scroll (he has the spell in his book), would the caster level then be higher and sufficient for his envisioned floating Laz-y-Boy?

Only if you paid 87.5 gp (12.5 gp x 1 {level of the spell} x 7 {level of the caster}) for the scribing supplies to create the scroll. In other words, if you paid enough to scribe the scroll at CL 7.

"Well, obviously when the giant machine of death moves out, we've only about 15 minutes or so ta make our move. Now, within that time frame, we wait for one ta signal the other which then gives us an even smaller window o' time. 'Cause they wait a bit for they signal each other. But only a bit. And there's big gap in between them a certain points. That's when we move. And I would gather we need ta move quickly. But not too quickly. We're not for wantin' ta bring attention to ourselves. They'll be plenty o' time for that when the killin' starts." He winks as he grins wryly.

Hal grimaces, "Well that is part of the problem. Karek said that we can't kill the Osiriani or we will lose the support, whatever support we have at any rate, of the Sand Sage. I am not sure if we should just go now or wait until we see a sign from one of our companions".

If Moon was the creator of the scroll (he has the spell in his book), would the caster level then be higher and sufficient for his envisioned floating Laz-y-Boy?

-

He would, for example, find it cheaper to make a scroll of a 2nd-level spell so he would only do such a thing if he had a special need. For example, the default scroll fireball is caster level 5 which is only 5d6 damage. There's a real market for caster level 10 fireball scrolls (10d6 damage). Clear as mud?

Moonpate would enjoy it if he got some free time (and cash) so he could make himself some new scrolls. One day, I hope. But it looks like today will instead be spent jogging across the hot desert.

The Scarab lies prone, flat on the sand, peaking between the shelter of two non-descript dunes.

“I don’t know what this Karek guy of yours knows, but I can assure you the Sand Sage is on Khymrasa’s payroll. I wouldn’t expect him to do anything for us other than turn us over to her clutches.”

Then she sighs. “Hal is still right though. The last time we made a body it caused some problems. If we can subdue them or divert them, I’d say all the better.”

She shields the sun from her eyes with her hands while her half-elvin vision tracks the soldiers in the distance to the south. “No sign of any of your friends yet that I can see.”

OOC: Oh sure – the ambush team kills like a thousand dudes and then they want you to go all pacifist and take -4 for non-lethal strikes. : )

"Need to take a break, Karek?" chortles Hurgah as he lopes along seemingly effortlessly. "Perhaps we could stop and you could get a manicure."

Mani-whud? Karek breathes as his mad dash across the desert continues. I don dink I'm boisoned.

"Return of the Wayward Sooron"

Xerissa and Donkor continue to stalk closer headed from the southeast. Soon the great camp is in sight. They drop their stances low and keep their heads down, at times electing for a slow-moving leopard crawl. Thanks to the magic of the Xerissa’s elixir, their skin and clothing has taken on a course sandy hue, making it look as though they are part of the surrounding dune lands. At times they even lose sight of one another, even though they travel less than a dozen feet apart. Only the tell-tale shimmer of their movement gives them away to the naked eye.
-----

OOC: It is still early morning, having made excellent time. Xerissa and Donkor do not see the infiltration team. Nor do they see the Ambush team. They do see the security outlined in my bulleted post above. It does not appear that they have been spotted by any of the troops. Currently, their confidence in their Stealth is such that it looks like they could just waltz right in. It couldn’t be that easy could it?

What do you say Monotony? Shall we wait for the best gap we can get and then try to slip through? Too good to be true? Xerissa could try and build some kind of time delay bomb for a distraction but I'm not sure we want any excitement anywhere near where we are with multiple groups trying to come through the same spot. This seems like an airport with multiple unscheduled landings.

. . . I am not sure if we should just go now or wait until we see a sign from one of our companions".

-

It sounds like Breach is doing his best to memorize the window timing and noting each time it occurs.

We may as well slip in now. I don't know what the duration on this stealth thing that we're using is, but I don't want to risk it running out. Let's wait a while until we see a good opportunity, and then wander in and hide as well as we can. I definitely think not using a bomb here is a good idea!

"Sounds good to me, lad." As the next rotation comes around and the window they've been watching for is nearing, "Wait for it... wait for it... now!"

Time to go. :)

Wait a minute... Are we trying to sneak OUT while the others are trying to sneak IN? I thought we were just waiting at this location for the others to show up, and then provide assistance to help them sneak in (if necessary) and join up together.

OOC: I understand what Hal and Breach are proposing is that the team formerly known as the Infiltration team (Hal, Breach, Gandel and now the Mithral Scarab) assault the southeast group of stationary guards (the third bullet in the post "The Southern Security above). The thinking is that by removing that particular grouping of guards it will create a hole which will enable the other members of the Dune Squad to slip in to the dig site undetected.

What I don't know is how this will be done. There was discussion of not harming the guards as well as talk of clobbering them. Hal has also alluded to using a spell to negate the possibility of the guards using their horns to sound an alarm. While I have a guess, he has not revealed what's happening just yet.

. . . As the next rotation comes around and the window they've been watching for is nearing, "Wait for it... wait for it... now!"

-

Let's have Breach give us an INT check, which in Breach's case is a straight d20. We'll give him +4 circumstance bonus as it sounds as though the grizzled veteran has devoted the last 20 minutes studying the timing with care.

Donkor appears to be up to something a bit similar. He too can give me an INT check to see if he locates a gap. But with two differences. He does not get the +4 circumstance bonus. However, if he fails the unknown DC, he'll simply conclude the right opportunity hasn't presented itself and he'll hold-off.

"Breach!" the Scarab says, "Have you noticed whenever the camel riders bring out their signal flags they seem to have to stop all movement to organize them. They're anchored for a good minute or so. Maybe we can use that."

The Scarab attempts an aid another for Breach's impending Intelligence check to discern the optimal gap in the southern security net. 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23 (success!)

That brings Shattershield's bonus to +6 in total.

1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7 Intelligence check to "find the gap".

Can Gandel attempt an aid another for Breach's INT check? If so: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

Also, if possible Gandel will use Bardic Performance (Inspire Competence) to grand Breach a +2 competence bonus to the INT check as well.