DM-Camris' MUMMY'S MASK Part 1: The Half-Dead City (Inactive)

Game Master Camris

Ra-Khefer gives a brief prayer to Pharasma before proceeding after Max.

Inferis follows after the pair. "Let's try the door on the left first."
ready action again

Good Roll there Max

Max walks slowly down the hallway his eyes scanning evey inch of the floor and walls..the first thing he notices are some small holes discreetly placed into the carvings the second thing is the slight irregularity in the floor just before the western doors.

The passage is straight 35' long and the last 5 feet seem wrong to Max

Max points out his findings to the group. "The simplest way I figure, we toss something heavy on the plate. Then we do that again to see if the mechanism can reset itself."

Are the holes along the whole length of the walls, or just in the portion with the floor irregularity?

The whole length

"Never mind, scratch that plan." Max rubs his chin. "Has anyone got any wax?"

"Can't we just poke stuff with a stick to see if its trapped? Or am I underthinking it." Lori says and scratches the side of her head with the barrel of her pistol. She was beginning to grow impatient and was getting anxious to find some shinies.

"Unless you've managed to hide a forty foot stick in your knickers, that's not much of an option. With a bit of wax I can probably seal the holes so whatever poison tipped pig stickers they have in there won't be able to shoot out."

Assuming something can be found to gum up the trap's works:
Disable Device: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

"Right" Lori said and blushed with a slight embarrassed laugh.

Cerastes smiles broadly before rumbling out, "Ah, finally...something I had the foresight to bring!" He produces nine candles and hands them to Max before continuing, "I also have this bar of soap if that helps."

"Well Max, I actually have some candles if it will help."

"I have little more than soap, if it is needed." Ra-Khefer grumbled.

Quickly improvising with candles and soap Max manages to disarm the trap with comparative ease.

You defeated my Dart Trap.....inconceivable

Ra-Khefer walks down to join Max at the far end, reverently admiring the ancient artwork along the way.

Seeing everyone walking down the hall, and not wanting to be left behind, Lori quickly moves to catch up with them. "So is this the Old Kentupi guy," She asks when she pauses momentarily to look at the carvings.

"I guess so." Max agrees. Once again, he readies his crossbow and takes position for the next door to be opened.

Having stopped halfway up the hall to closely examine the statues and wall carvings, the oracle finally shakes himself from his reverie and rejoins Ra-Khefer in maintaining a guard over Max as he examines the next set of doors. "Just give the word and I'll open these too."

Again the doors open easily as if they had just been installed yesterday and not some 2000 years ago. Unless noted otherwise you only need a STR DC 10 check and I'll assume you always take 10 at least on those

A faded tapestry hangs on a wooden frame on the western wall of this chamber. Faded and delicate, the tapestry depicts a middle-aged man, accompanied by a woman and two children, with a small estate in the background. To either side of the tapestry are two small pedestals, upon which sit two dead and preserved animals. Stone double doors exit the chamber to the north and south,

Characters who study the tapestry and succeed at a DC 10 Linguistics check...

If that succeeds..

Knowledge (local)DC 15

map of exploration to this point

Linguistics:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
After looking at the writings on the wall, Inferis comments "It looks like Akhentepi's family befell some tragedy, possibly murder or sickness, and he was left widowed."
know(local)1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
"I would be willing to bet a bottle of wine and a deep tissue massage that Akhentepi's family is probably interred somewhere else and that this tomb was prepared much later, after his continued successful military career."

Turning to look at the two sets of doors, "I think we should try the south doors first."

"Very Impressive." in acknowledgement of Inferis' eye for detail and breadth of knowledge. He moves to open the south doors when everyone indicates they are prepared.

"Lead the way" Lori says as she pulls the hammer back on her pistol.

Ready action, I'm gonna shoot anything threatning that gets within 30 feet of me.

The southern door require even less force than the previous ones to open No STR check required

All that is revealed is a short flight of broad steps leading down to another set of double stone doors.

With a little bit of disappointment starting to creep into his voice, "Well...there's a lot of doors..." He follows Max and opens the next set when ready.

"Watch this tomb just be a series of one door after another," Lori jests with a smile. Even with her playful words she readies her pistol all the same.

Ra-Khefer follows along, helping to open doors.

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

Once again the doors swing open easily belying their mass and age to reveal another 20' square chamber.

A massive mirror stretches across the southern wall of this chamber, flanked by two statues. The statue to the east depicts a tall, gaunt woman in a flowing, hooded gown, holding an hourglass(Pharasma). The figure to the west is that of a jackal-headed man carrying a scepter or staff in his hand (Anubis). Stone double doors, standing slightly ajar, lead to the east and west. A third set of double doors exits the room to the north. Torch holders sculpted in the shape of bird skulls are built in each corner, and a thin layer of dust covers every surface.

The AP asks for Knowledge (Religion) Rolls to ID the statues but as Cerastes made the necessary roll back in the entry chamber above ground I think it redundant to keep having to ID the same deities

Max bites his lip. "Well that isn't suspicious at all." he says sarcastically. "I'll bet any of you a crown this set up is magicked." The halfling walks to the base of the stairs, but is careful not to set foot in the chamber just yet. He blows dust off of the floor in front of him and takes a closer look at the mirror.

Active Perception from the steps: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

"The jackal-headed man..." Wondered Ra-Khefer aloud. "I have seen such images before, in the oldest of the tombs I and my clan guarded for Pharoah."

"Two doors ajar? Perhaps we should look for tracks and follow the freshest ones."

Max looks in the mirror...

and sees himself and a man in Ancient Osirian Wargear who is definitely the man in the murals .He notes that his own reflection bears a frown.

Continue looking or look away?

Max smiles and frowns a couple times in rapid succession to see if he has any control over his reflection's expression, then makes a fast one-eighty to see if he can catch a glimpse of the Osirian in the real world. "Yep, magicked like I thought." He proclaims. "I figure breaking the mirror'd make things worse, but walking through with our eyes closed or backwards is just asking to stumble into some less mystical mousetrap they've laid out at the other doors."

Cerastes steps in after Max indicates it isn't at least immediately harmful, "We must be careful not to call any curses upon ourselves. Unnecessarily, I mean...like breaking the mirror. Yes...I know, tomb robbing might be enough to anger Anubis as it is." He detects magic on the mirror.

Ra-Khefer tears his eyes away from the jackal-headed man (was it Anubis, as Cerastes said?) and looked at the mirror.
"What about the mirror?" He asked curiously.

"Magic? What kinda magic we talking about? Good magic that'll make me look gorgeous or bad magic that'll make me look like a hag?" Lori asks as she carefully rests the hammer of her pistol before spinning the gun around her finger in boredom.

The Mirror has a faint illusion and transmutation aura.

Max mugs for the mirror but his reflections expression never changes beyond frowning disapproval.Akhentepi is only existent in the mirror.

Does Cerastes see the same thing?

Cerastes does indeed see himself frowning in disapproval and the stern figure of Akhentepi looking over his shoulder

When Ra-Khefer steps in, the oracle looks at him and his reflection and chuckles, "I'm not noticing a difference..."

Inferis walks toward the mirror and rubs her ring as she incants, "Drasheaze"
cast detect magic on the mirror and id it. spellcraft:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

Well it looks as if everyone is looking in the mirror so..

Cerastes 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (9) + 0 = 9

Max1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Lori1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18

Inferis1d20 + 0 ⇒ (10) + 0 = 10

Ra-Khefer1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Everyone feels a sudden stab of pain in their forehead For Max, Cerastes and Inferis the pain is excruciating(each takes 1 point damage) as hieroglyphic markings are etched into their skin. Ra-Khefer barely notices it as a mild discomfort and for Lori it's a throbbing headache for just a second.

Lori tilts her head down and rubs her forehead for a moment. "Ow... what the hell was that... just came out of nowhere and now its gone.

"Arrgh..." He reaches to feel his forehead and then looks in the mirror again to see what happened.

Cerastes reads the word 'THIEF' branded into his forehead in Ancient Osirion..it is also on the foreheads of Max and Inferis.Ahkentepi's visage has vanished from the reflection

"Yikes" Max yelps and begins to scratch furiously at the mark. When Cerastes explains its meaning, he begins to rant "Why you dunder headed general. You've got it all wrong. We're official, Pharaoh-sanctioned treasured hunters. Can't get farther from a thief than that!"

Still suspecting a mundane back up trap, Max scampers into the room, he stays low, both to avoid any more eye contact with the mirror and to blow dust away on the floor as he goes. He makes his way to the door on the right, then surreptitiously peeks through the opening.

Active Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Taking 10 on Stealth for a 17

I did say Max made a 180 degree turn after making faces at the mirror, which means he stopped looking at the thing, but whatever.

Does Cerastes think healing the damage will get rid of the brand?

Inferis screams and points at the mirror, "Kreash'rah". A glob of green goo slams into the mirror.
cast acid spray at the mirror. damage:1d3 ⇒ 1

Hearing cerastes' explanation of the glyphs, Ra-Khefer is filled with admiration.
"Magnificent!" He whispered.
Then realizing that he had nearly been branded as well, he ducked out of sight of the mirror (careful to not get in Inferis' line of fire).

He formally bowed to both Pharasma and the Jackal-headed man (Anubis was it?) grateful that the gods had not branded him thus. It would have been beyond humiliating to receive such a brand, especially when he might have to confront his old Legion again.
He hoped anyway. He felt his forehead again, just making sure.

He looks after Max, seeing what happens to him when he opens that door.

The acid has no effect on the glass of the mirror.

Max does not spot anything through the crack except to confirm that the area is another stairway

"What's done is done, no sense crying over spilt ale." Max says as he opens the door the rest of the way and heads down the next set of stairs.

Max pushes the door open and discovers that this stairway is not in as good a condition as the tomb has been to date..there is a lot of sand here and the walls seem to have crumbled a bit.