Logos executes a flip in mid fall and lessens the falling damage by 10 ft.
"RAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
The madman slashes the corpse a couple of more times to ensure it is dead.
Then he pauses and breaths slowly.
The ankh around his neck flashes briefly.
I also forgot to include the man's spellbook..
1st - Alarm, Chill Touch, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement, Shield, Vanish
2nd - Arcane Lock, Bear's Endurance, Command Undead, False Life, Gentle Repose, Ghoul Touch, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Knock, Scorching Ray
3rd - Communal Resist Energy, Fireball, Fly, Haste, Heroism, Ray of Exhaustion, Sleet Storm, Stinking Cloud, Vampiric Touch
4th - Animate Dead, Ball Lightning, Dimension Door, Enervation, Fear, Obsidian Flow, Stoneskin
5th - Magic Jar, Overland Flight, Suffocation, Teleport
He also had:
diamond dust (worth 500 gp)
onyxes (worth 500 gp)
silver holy symbols of Anubis and Pharasma (worth 25 gp each)
silver unholy symbol of Urgathoa (worth 25 gp)
Assuming yall make your way out of the Necropolos and back the the Masoleum. There are hundreds of undead dead in the streets.. They all appear to have perished with the Necromancer. It's a good thing as the main gates appear to have been broken down recently and the Living City was in the beginning stages of an all out assault.
Sebiti and Ptemnib, along with Arthur meet you at the steps. They all have the look of not sleeping for a couple of days.. Sebiti smiles. "Well it seems you all were successful. Would you mind reporting on what happened?"
Marius spends some time examining the defeated man's spellbook before continuing on. When they get back to the floating grandmother's head Marius has her come along if she is still functioning. If not then Marius just travels onward.
Being animated by the necromancer as well the head has perished.. Her cage is made of gold though and is likely valuable.. You just have to remove the stinky undead head thats in it..
Marius uses a mthyic point to cast Decompose Corpse and after getting everything off the head will try to break it into pieces, so that he can have the cage.
Before making a report, Calla would like to have researched what in sevel worlds was the man with the mask doing in that room, if he was planning something or just waiting for the heroes to come...
"Well, where can I start... Oh yes, the pulse! We heard there was a Ka pulse in the city, and then used the Eligiac compasses to pinpoint the source. We found out it came from an old place called the Observatory of Truth and Wisdom, so we got in there and killed him." Straight to the point, and no mask mentioned.
She furrows her brow.. "Do not be coy child, I only wish to here what happened, with a bit more detail if you dont mind? Who was this man? How did he create this Ka Pulse? What if any information did you find on him? Did you run into this mysteriou cult again? What of the item they were searching for?" She seems slightly irratated that you provide her such little info when you obviously know more..
Marius steps in front of Calla putting himself between Sebti and the group.
"All knowledge, and loot gained during this adventure is the right and property of the Obsidian Eyes. After we have been duly rewarded and healed for our service to the city you may bargain with us for the knowledge that you seek."
Calla is impressed by the tone in Marius voice. She detects magic on him, to make sure he is not possessed. "Common Marius, we were working for a common goal here, right? We don't need to be that rude. I know we've faced death encounters, on which the enemies rained fire over us, drained our energy, eyesight, cut us, trapped us, sent us into a freaking run throughout the city, and almost got us drowned, but that is not reason to... Ok, maybe that's enough reason to demand something else... But Sebti and Ptemenib helped us when they could, right?"
Logos keeps his own counsel for now. He had his own fish to fry, and his own amulet to research. His pay would be coming, but for now he was content to let others take the lead. He'd step in if things turned violent.
"Honestly I don't really get what he's asking. Some crazy guy was doing some ritual and tried to kill us when we found him. We decided to kill him right back and were better at it than him. Recognizing rituals isn't my line so I can't be more specific. "
Sebiti stares Marius down.. "Look, we're on the same side here. No one ever said anything about taking loot you found. With the lottery open anything found is yours by right. What I asked for was any information on the necromancer who started all this mess. It was obvious from yalls early findings that whoever he was found this powerful item the cult was after. I assume your group has this item now having killed the man." She pauses. "Now if you all insist on being clam shells we can leave it as is and you will recieve no further assistances from me or the Pharasmin clergy. You can take your treasures and leave the city."
Hadjii steps right up to Sebiti, briefly pulling the mask from his Haversack to show it to her -- then slipping it back into the bag, so as not to present it for all to see. Speaking to her conspiratorially:
"Here is the mask the necromancer was wearing, Ms Sebiti. I have been wearing it since we left the observatory. I have a sense that it can be used in a balanced way. It has done great evil -- now it can be used for good! I also have a plan to keep it hidden from evil, while using it's powers: I can use my powers to transform into a wolf -- and what I carry is transformed with me! If I am a wolf most of the time, few will know I have the mask. But secrecy is important! If it is not widely known that I have it, there is less chance of it's discovery by evil-doers!"
"Yeah, let's be a little more throughout in our explanation. We need to picture this together.
"I will start when we were assigned to explore the Sanctum of the Erudite Eye, a temple dedicated to Nethys. Before we got there, the bandits from the Scorched Hands hired thugs to try to kill us, but failed. When we got to the temple we first encountered an Aghash Div that fought us, and escaped in a sandstorm. We found a locked compartment, and a mini chest with a living scroll inside. After dealing with the guardian we recovered a Royal Decree on a stone tablet, that reads as follows:"
"The city mentioned is Wati, and Djederet was a pharaoh of Osirion 6 thousand years ago, as much as we know. Moving to the underground of the Eye, we found bloody footprints, and a fake wall that was previously protected by a glyph of warding was destroyed, revealing a stone effigy of a humanoid figure standing at the north end of a small room, with its arms spread in a gesture of supplication, or as if commanding an object to rise in the air. The figure's face was devoid of detail, with only vague contours where the eyes and nose should be. An extensive series of hieroglyphs covered the western wall, opposite a stone bench that stands against the eastern wall. We defeated a snake guardian in that room and analyzed it better. In the walls there was a warning that was something like this:"
Woe to you who would plunder the Reliquary of the Thrice-Divided Soul. Turn away, lest the harsh judgment of the Forgotten One fall upon you and your descendants for a thousand generations. Turn away, for his ka cannot be appeased and it shall call forth legions of the dead and the damned. Turn away, and may the All-Seeing Eye and the Lady of Graves take pity on you, for if not, the Forgotten Pharaoh shall consume you, body and soul.
"Of course, “ka” is a term referring to one component of the ancient Osirian concept of the soul, which was divided into five parts. The ka contains a person’s “vital spark,” that which distinguishes the living from the dead. Then we moved on, defeated the Scorched Hand, and later the thing from the sarcophagus. It was the first high priest and founder of the Erudite Eye, that died in -1599, a wise counselor, trusted keeper of secrets, and good friend of the Pharaoh Djederet, that ruled at the time. You know the one reduced to ashes in a burst of energy, surrounding us all."
"Then we moved back an awaited for the auction, researching a little in the meantime. The auction happened and then... wait, I recall something weird now. We did hear that there was a cult of the forgotten pharaoh walking around the place with golden masks. Ok, we found a golden mask, but is that the only one? I think there may be more of those guys! Speaking of which, Baketra bought all the golden funerary masks at the auction, who is he Sebiti?"
"Moving on, the auction was attacked, and we cleared as much as we could in that place. Then Sebti promised us a great compensation if helped clear the city out, and we joined the fray. Ptemenib managed to get captured and we went to the rescue, saving him from the Silver Chains. It turned out that the gang had been taken over by the cult of the forgotten pharaoh, who were looking for a special mask in town, one that contained a piece of the most holy one. We saved the priest, killed the leader, his kitty and the twins, along with several lackeys."
"Very well, but that mask still belongs to the temple of Nethys."
Calla recalled Marius being angry with the Pharasma church since the beginning, as they were trying to get the mask for themselves, probably, bu she kept quiet about that.
"Theeeeeeen we saved everyone at the court room, and killed the undead menace surrounding it, plus we cleared and protected the gate into the dead city. We literally lost one of Chester's Obsidians eye, but managed to keep moving." She recalled Marius also owned her 5 gold pieces from their bet about Arthur's group return. "By the way, you own me 5 dragons, Marius. Then Sebti's subordinate demanded we killed his minions in a fight to show our power, which was made without further problems."
"We entered the city, and sought Unwrapped Harmony, but instead of forcing the information out of him, we agreed to help him with a particular plan, since they were not so bad. So we slayed Gaunt Cadaver at some place, and Unwrapped told us that they saw someone with a golden mask speaking with something on a brass cage close to a place named Marid's Caress. The golden masked guy dropped a a star chart of the summer skies over Wati, but the incomplete piece would make it impossible to tell whether the star chart is an academic reference, a navigational chart, or a divination aid. But of course I have an extensive knowledge, and knew the star chart was likely used as a divination tool and a map. With it orientated right we could make out that the piece we had showed the southern portion of the necropolis. And whoever used it left a couple of placemarkers on the map. One was another site of a compass, and the second was the Pyramid of Arithmetic Bliss, that we visited shortly after."
"There was nothing salvageable at Marid's Caress, so we went to the Pyramid of Arithmetic Bliss. We killed Velryana, again, on our way there. Chester came back while Logos joined us. In the Pyramid we found a body and some extra notes. We found out about the Observatory of Truth and Wisdom, the Shiny Bauble, and the tomb of Menket Maatya. We returned to find a new companion after Bandit's loss, and the moved in again through the tunnel. Very close to that spot we repaired a Compass. Then we found another compass but its core had been stolen, and luckly enough we found the thief! It was a freaking cristal dragon that lived nearby, and we had to negotiate with it to get the piece back, giving away a large chunk of our valuables."
"With the second compass working we killed some losers that were crafting mummia in the Shiny Bauble, and activated a third one. With three of them working we found out that the place where the ka pulse originated was the Observatory of Truth and Wisdom. Inside we started clearing the way, and some gangsters attacked us, screaming You fools! The mask belongs to us! We are the true heirs to the Sky Pharaoh’s legacy! When he rises again to reclaim his throne, we will receive Hakotep’s blessings, not the likes of you!"
"Ha, very funny, like if they stood a chance... Moving on, we found the caged thing, which was an undead head, and Marius controlled it. Another Ghast was killed, we found a marvelous place with a miniature scale of Wati, a little out of date, of course. We found two bodies under a gentle repose spell, that had super valuable clothes, but we could not identify who were they. Then sought the freaking necromancer, at last. We destroyed a freaking construct guardian and got in the boss' room. A raised, pyramidal platform in the center of that large, circular chamber held an opulent sarcophagus, bedecked with human skulls and profane symbols scrawled in blood, standing between two braziers burning with blue flame. An elevated walkway ran around the perimeter of the hall, behind massive stone statues of Pharasma that supported the room`s domed ceiling. Elaborately appointed crypts, each fit for royalty, sat beneath each statue's feet. Hundreds of desiccated bodies laid haphazardly strewn across the chamber’s polished floor."
"Standing on the platform there was a, humanoid figure wearing a golden mask. He radiated an aura of evil even at our distance. There was something "Mythic" about him. Along side him a pair of mummies hang out, and so the battle took place. So, we're here and he's not, thus you know what happened." She smiles, happy to having finished her tale, and hoping it was worth an awesome reward for having spent time she could not when going back through thousands of posts.
Sebiti listens intently and even smiles when her name is mentioned/pronounced wrong. At the end she smiles at Calla. "Now was that so hard? Thank you Calla. Ok so from what I make of this story is this Sky Pharaoh, Hakotep, was perhaps a true pharaoh sometime long ago. It seems he somehow managed to get his soul split into 3 pieces and 1 piece of it resides in this mask you have. I would imagine this cult is trying to recover all of these items in an attempt to resurrect this Sky Pharoah. Im no expert but that probably a bad idea by looking at his followers credentials. Our libraries here do not contain any information on this long lost pharoah so I would suggest yall traveling to Tephu as they have the most extensive library in all of Osiriani. If there is information on him they will surely have it. You all may rest here for as long as you like and recover."
For your service to Wati you are each rewarded with either 5k gold in divine spell casting credit from either a Church of Phrasma/Church of Nethys, or any magic item with a street value of 5k or less.
Hey, I'm just following the leader!
"So, are we going after the Lamias or into the dead city again before going to Tephu?"
Looks like 253 of them, It will take you awhile to sell them individually, or you could probably find a collector to buy them all at a discounted rate..
As far as Sebiti is concerned yalls work is done here.. She was planning on sending Arthur and some Inquisitors to handle that job.
"So, guys, would you like to rest for a few days before taking some vacation to Tephu?"
"Oh yes, a break here in town would be nice! I can make a few scrolls -- and I will visit my friend Rajik!"
"Yes, I have never been out of my woods for as long as I can remember, before making this journey, and I have not actually had time to see this city when it was not in dire straights."
"So, let's give it a week, shall we? We can sell our stuff, rest a little, craft some things and hope that Sky Pharaoh b!~#+ tries to attack us again, so we can capture her."
Calla will focus on the crafting, and leaving the other tasks as secondary.
On the first day, she will craft Hadjii's Gloves of the Unseen Servant (bp 2000, cost 1000). Then when she's done she will copy Communal Resist Energy from the Necromancer's spellbook, and use the remaining time to look after buyers for their regular stuff.
Then she will check which one does the others want so they can move on.
How about a quiver of abundant ammunition? By my reading it should only be 2k base price (caster level 1, spell level 1, continuous use 2k).
Well, Calla will spend the next 8 days crafting, buying, selling and copying spells to her spellbook.
Then I believe we're all ready to go, right?
The Arch-MAGE! is eager to hit the road on the 8th day after the calm.
Ok you guys spend a day and a half on camel backs before reaching the crossing to Tephu. The River Sphinx flows easy at the time of crossing and after fair is paid, 1gp each, you guys are off towards the other side. It takes a few hours to cross and along the way yall hear stories of great river monsters that attack ferry's and many prayers are given that yalls isn't selected for attack.. As goes well as the boat arrives at the docks in Tephu early in the afternoon.
Just like most port cities in Osirion Tephu is bustling with activity. Looking abit out of place you guys are immediately accosted by sellers of wares from every corner. Very quickly you all are offered anything from savory minced lamb, limes, olives, mint tea, and water to carpets (some of which the sellers claim to be “magic” carpets), camel hide, leather goods, hookah pipes, pesh, pots and pans, and even camels and dancing girls and boys. You are only left alone if you buy something and that leads to other sellers trying even harder! They don't seem to take no for an answer.
Where too?
"RRRAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" Logos uses a point of rage and screams at the pedlers, his eyes wide and foam flecking from his lips as they surround him. His claws extend from his fingers in a flashy way, neck veins stand out, muscles ripple unnaturally under his skin, and blood shoots through his eye sclera rapidly.
The reaction from Logos almost causes a stampede to occur among the peseant rabble.. Grown men turn to run and women scream a cry of terror. There is suddenly a strong smell of urine among the crowd. Almost immediately the group is set upon by a cadre of city guards, 4 in all. They flash blades as the leader begins to speak.
"Halt there! What's the meaning of all this? Explain yourselves before I have you locked up!"
I was going to mention, before adventuring started, that Hadjii is generally in wolf form most of the day these days: first thing he does each morning is use up one of his uses of Wild Shape for the day -- morphing into a bird, and flying around the city 30-40 minutes, while it's nice and cool! When he lands, he'll putter about in human form for a few minutes, then use up his 2nd use of Wild Shape for the day becoming a wolf. When it expires. 9 hours later, he'll remain in human form for no more than a few minutes before using his 3rd Wild Shape for the day. He typically curls up and goes to sleep as a wolf at the end of the day, letting the duration expire while he sleeps.
He's becoming a medium wolf for now -- not a large (dire) wolf. He plays with Sheeba quite a lot, and on-lookers could easily think he is her cub.
This, I doubt Hadjii is bugged by vendors as much as the others...
When Logos goes off, Hadjii and Sheeba raise there hackles as well -- to make it look like they're all responding to some kind of threat may have appeared.
Marius is about to start speaking to the people before Logos scares them all away. As the guards a rive Marius shrugs.
"I don't know guardsman. I was just about to start converting all these fine people to Nethys when my friend over here had one of his episodes. I promise it won't happen again."