Having found everything of interest, you begin the laborious process of transporting your treasures up the shaft to the tomb's entrance.
The distinctive sound of money fills the air. A quasi-real figure appears before you, its face obscured by a thick fog of bureaucracy.
"Howdy! Let's see how much MONEY you got!"
It then shows you a list of all the treasures you found.
Gold found: 600 gp, 4 sp
Scarab Shield (4399 gp)
Akhentepi's Armor (2617 gp, 5 sp)
Masterwork longbow (187 gp, 5 sp)
Masterwork khopesh (160 gp)
Composite shortbow (50 gp)
Cold iron arrows x10 (5 sp)
Vials of alchemist's fire x2 (20 gp total)
Potions of Cure Light Wounds x2 (50 gp total)
Potions of Darkvision x2 (300 gp total)
Potion of Lesser Restoration (150 gp)
Vials of silversheen x2 (250 gp total)
Chest (200 gp)
Books x2 (600 gp total)
Chariot (100 gp, but must be reassembled by someone who can make a DC 15 Craft (carpentry) or Profession (driver) check.)
Masks x4 (300 gp total)
Nard (150 gp)
Various documents (worth 250 gp to a collector or Osirionologist)
Gold leaf from both sarcophagi (150 gp)
Gold scarab clasp (50 gp)
Silver Pharasma symbol (100 gp)
Silver hand mirror (35 gp)
Funerary mask (500 gp)
Lapis and carnelian pendant (70 gp)
Assortment of carnelian, lapis lazuli, turquoise semiprecious stones (55 gp)
"The prices listed are what you will get for selling each item, or half of its market price," it explains helpfully. "If there's anything you want to keep, let me know. Everything else will be sold for lots of MONEY!!"
It glances at Talos, still suffering from poison. "Yeesh...you might wanna keep that Lesser Restoration potion, buddy. Or you could just look for a cleric who can cast it, and save some MONEY!!"
Laleh refrains from taking anything out of the loot pile upon learning that a Khopesh is not in fact a kind of food.
"Uh, would you blokes mind if I grabbed this, eh, mask?' Kael asks the group as he picks up and examines the Abadar mask. "Migh' be good for me tithe to the church, right."
"Maybe these arrows will come in handy sometimes..." Talos grabs the arrows.
"If nobody minds, I'll take that longbow."
You sell everything except the arrows, longbow, and Abadar mask. It turns out to be quite easy to find collectors for the chariot and documents.
You made a total of 11,259 gp and 4 sp. That's about 1877 gp for each of you (rounding up), and the party fund gets the rest.
Also, *DING!* Welcome to Level 2! You may now choose to retrain your characters, or just tough it out until level 3.
"Whoops, I had my celestial calculator on radians instead of degrees!"
You actually made 10999.4 gp, and get 1834 gp each.
After Ptolem's triumphant return to the surface, he decides to seek out someone who can craft armor worthy of a man of his stature, and a finer weapon.
Afterward, he goes to report their victory to the priests.
Sneferka goes and sells his chain shirt, whip, thieves tools and buckler for 140 gp. He then goes on a bit of a shopping spree, buying:
-a Mithral Shirt (1100 gp)
-a Darkwood Buckler (203 gp)
-Masterwork Thieves Tools (100 gp)
-an Ioun Torch (75 gp)
-a Masterwork scorpion whip (305 gp)
-20 common/20 blunt arrows (3 gp)
Pocketing the remaining 188 gold, Sneferka walks to the temple. As he does so, he whistles happily while he flicks his new ioun torch in orbit around his head, oblivious to the fact that in the dying light of the evening, it's incredibly distracting to anyone else around him. He flexes a bit as he walks around-his new armor gives him much more freedom of movement than his old stuff.
Ptolem heads to the Grand Masoleum, whose interior looks like a cross between a town hall and a Pharasman temple. You see a handful of adventurers scattered through the main hall, each giving their report to a priest holding a pen and stack of papers.
One such priest approaches you.
"Ah, you're with the..." he flips through his pages. "'Hands of the Pharaoh', correct? And you were assigned to explore the tomb in the eastern cemetery."
"So, what were your impressions of that site? Could you share any historical information you found in regards to the person interred there? And, do you feel as if you explored the tomb fully?"
Akhentepi was born in 2416 AR. For most of his life he was a celebrated military commander, presiding over the troops garrisoned in Wati prior to the city's downfall. His weapons of choice were a magic Scarab Shield and a khopesh or spear, with which he rode into battle on a brightly painted chariot.
Akhentepi had a wife and two children, but some tragedy befell them (either murder or sickness), and they were interred somewhere else, while the tomb you explored was built much later after Akhentipi's successful military career.
At some point after the death of his family, Akhentipi took a mistress whom he planned to marry eventually. Preparations were begun for a secondary tomb where she would be interred. But Akhentepi died unexpectedly before financial provisions had been made to continue excavating her tomb, and further construction on the mistress's crypt was abandoned.
Akhentepi died in 2488 AR, 11 years before the Plague of Madness decimated most of the city
"It was Ahkentepi's tomb. Some military commander who did little of note. Apparently he was building a tomb for his mistress, so he was a classy fellow if nothing else."
"Ah...I see."
He seems disappointed, but dutifully jots down some notes.
"Well, I guess that's that. Your next assignment is a walled, two-story mansion with surrounding grounds. We believe it belonged to some minor nobility of the city."
As before, you are given a sketched map detailing the site's location in the necropolis.
--------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, as Sneferka is walking around with his new toys, he is approached by a woman with similarly expensive-looking gear.
"Well, you look like you've had a good day! Why not bring your group to the Tooth and Hookah later this evening? Some groups are gathering there to swap stories."
Sneferka smiles. "Sounds like a good idea, we all liked it there yesterday. I'm Sneferka, part of the Hands of the Pharaoh. No, I didn't choose the name. Who're you with?"
Kael bids a temporary farewell to his crew before going on his own adventure in the city!!
First he stops by the local temple of Abadar and drops the mask off with the highest-ranking priest he can spot.
Then he waltzes back to the marketplace to replenish his stock of fortune cookies from the nice Tian-La bloke. +5 cookies, -5 cp
He also finds a place to grab a cuppa +tea in stomach, -3 cp
During this walk he accidentally casts Longstrider, getting his shopping done even faster!
Now onto business!
He seeks out some armor, feeling the bruises from the dolls- I mean DEADLY MANNEQUINS with the lack of a dungeon to distract from the soreness. He settles upon a nice looking chain shirt from a shady shop and slips it on under his hot weather outfit. -100 gp +A SINGULAR CHAIN SHIRT
The weapon shop in the next alley has a nice looking MASTERWORK MORNINGSTAR too! -308 gp + A SINGULAR MASTERWORK MORNINGSTAR
TOTAL: 1760.23-.05-.03-1100-308 = 1352.15 left
Kael forgets his old morningstar in the shop after taking his new purchase.
He then heads back toward Tooth and Hookah, bereft of anything to do
The woman smiles back. "I'm Sigrun Firehair, of the Daughters of the Desert. Can't wait to hear your tale!"
Ptolem, lacking anything to do, makes his way back to his minions, intent on telling them their next payday is near.
You all meet up at the Tooth and Hookah. There are five other groups present, including Sigurn's Daughters of the Desert, as well as your drinking buddies, the Dog Soldiers. Nearly everyone is in high spirits, boasting about the monsters they defeated and treasures they gathered.
However, "Mad Dog" Marrn and his group look rather downtrodden. But they cheer up a little when the notice your arrival.
"Oh, hello again, friends!" Marrn calls out to you. "How did you fare? I assume you can afford to pay for your own drinks tonight, eh?"
He seems to be hoping you won't notice how miserable everyone is.
Ptolem responds with his usual tact.
"Indeed we can! And you look like you've suffered an embarrassing failure. The natural outcome for those of lesser breeding, it's no fault of your own." he sounds genuinely consoling, and utterly unaware of any insult.
"Breeding...funny you should say that."
He take a swig of his drink.
"We were sent to explore this tannery. It was going pretty well for a while, until we ran into a gelatinous cube. We tried to keep our distance, but our dogs..." he shudders. "It paralyzed and ate half of 'em. We did our best to destroy it quickly, but we were too late."
He buries his face in his hands.
"They were such good companions, all of them. I still can't quite believe it..."
He takes a moment to calm himself, then takes something out of his backpack.
"It wasn't a complete loss, though. After we killed the cube, I managed to salvage this magic sword that was inside it. I should be able to get a good price for it, and then...hopefully we can find a respectable breeder and buy some replacement dogs."
Sneferka whips his head around away from Sigrun, who he'd been talking to. "Ptolem! Come on, friend-we've talked about this. You need to be mindful of other people's feelings...ugh, not that it'll get through to you this time. Sorry about him, Marrn-and your dogs. Next round for you guys is on me."
"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that, mate. Sounded like, uh, were good boys" Kael assures the Dog Soldiers after awkwardly swallowing a mouthful of tea. He motions toward the sword, trying to lead their mind toward greener pastures. "Did any of yeh find out what the things enchanted with? We found a shield that uh, repels bugs."
"Man, I would not like to think about losing my little buddy here, my condolences to you, mates."
"The loss of anyone is hard. But I'm certain that you'll all be back in top shape, ready to make those fallen companions of yours proud!"
"Man, I would not like to think about losing my little buddy here, my condolences to you, mates."
"Thanks, guys. The enchantment on this sword is Keen, which I hear is pretty highly desired. We probably could use it ourselves, but...we'd rather have the dogs, honestly." His teammates all nod in agreement.
While you've been talking, a Taldan woman wearing a flamboyant pink hat has made her way across the room, asking something to each of the groups.
Eventually, she approaches you. From the look on her face, she's clearly annoyed about something.
"Have any of you been assigned to an ancient temple or shrine, or heard any rumors about something called the Erudite Eye?" she asks rather abruptly.
"Uh, no, sorry." Marrn replies, clearly confused. The rest of the Dog Soldiers give the same response.
Ptolem does not deign to even recognize the presence of the peasant asking stupid questions.
Kael looks at the woman and shakes his shining chrome dome from side to side. "Nah, sorry mate. We've, uh, just been dealing with Ackemteppey's tombs."
More tea then goes down his gullet
Laleh feigns being unable to answer by chugging her drink.
Actually, she probably was already going to do that. Happy coincidences.
"A eye-of-what? Don't think I know what that is, missy, sorry"
"Fancy a drink, though?" Talos adds.
The woman sighs, looking increasingly frustrated.
"There is a temple in the necropolis that is sacred to my group's faith. We were denied our request to explore it, and instead assigned to an ancient brothel! If a group has an interest in a particular site, they should be allowed to enter it, don't you think?"
"If you were really meant to explore it, fate would have seen fit to make sure you were drawn for the privilege. To complsin about it is so very...common." the last word drips with do much contempt that it's clear this is one of the greatest insults he can level at someone.
"I think you should be grateful that your whole group made it out of there alive." Marrn chimes in.
"Hmph. Well, that's your opinion." the woman replies, to both of you.
She turns to leave the tavern without another word. Three people who had been sitting quietly in the corner get up to follow her.
"Some people, huh?" Marrn says after they've left, rolling his eyes.
"Right? To be allowed to delve like this in my people's history is a privilege all by itself. They should be content with that."
Kael doesn't register his friends' opinions as he wonders about what in the world would be of worth in an ancient sealed brothel.