Tiny buggers are agile and hard to hit, as Jalal's blow misses!
Round 2
Rolling her eyes, Anka moves up to Jalal to assist, flanking with him. "Yes, clearly you do." She grips her blade in both hands, feet moving to a wide stance as she swings downward. for
Damage
Rhade's spell goes off, destroying two of the warrior dolls and severely injuring the other, but it also engulfs some papers on the desk, setting them afire!
Anka moves in to flank, since the dolls not have reach and her blade destroys the last of them! You extinguish the fire, but the papers are lost.
The rack to the east proudly displays three shields. The shield on the right is a light wooden shield identical to the shields carried by the soldiers in the diorama. It bears Ancient Osiriani hieroglyphs that spell the name “Akhentepi,” marking those soldiers as under the command of Akhentepi. The light wooden shield on the left does not appear to be Osirian in origin. The center shield is unusual in that it is a light steel shield shaped like a scarab; it matches the one borne by Akhentepi in the engravings on the doors in the past rooms. The rack on the south wall holds a composite shortbow (missing bowstring), a khopesh, and a spear. You also find a clay urn sealed with wax.
The khopesh and the spear are masterwork and the shield shaped like a scarab radiates magic.
Walking past where Kakra is healing Alzaar, Anka investigates the rack. She casts detect magic and trails her fingers over the relics, smiling at the shield. "A weapon used by the general himself, perhaps."
She'll stoop and reach for the clay urn before pausing, not wanting to trigger some trap. Without touching it, she'll try to determine what it is.
Anka cannot determine the magical properties of the shield. As to the urn, it does not appear to a funerary urn, but a container of sorts.
Ahhh..... That was.... Different. Alzaar states as he climbs to his feet, still in a lot of pain. I may need one of those potions of healing. I really hope it hasn't spoiled.
As he makes his way down to the shields and weapons, he searches the room for traps thoroughly before declaring it safe.
He looks over the shields and weapons to see if he can identify any of them.
Hmm.... The shield on the left looks to be... Mwangian, perhaps? Akhentepi could have led a campaign there, ancient Osirion did try to expand as far as they could, after all. Perhaps we should take these, as well as the chest from the other room. These all look to be valuable, as long as we sell them to the right people.
Alzaar pays special attention to the urn/container, trying to determine if it's a trap or if it's valuable.
Jalal looks over Alzaar's wounds and casts a spell over the man. Alzaar hears an eerie set of disembodied voices, but he can't make out what they're saying. A coldness sets in, but some of his wounds begins to close.
"Some grand artifacts indeed. Especially if they were from the general." He picks up the scarab shield and tries it on.
Alzaar finds no traps and no secret doors in the room, so there's no way but to go south at the prior room when you're ready to proceed.
It is sealed. Do you break the seal and open it?
Rhade looked around after the group dropped the strange figures. He expected additional attacks and was pleased when none came. "Sorry about losing all that parchment. I was worried those little buggers would knife all of us to death," he groaned, seeing it was too late to save them.
"Yes, we will take all of this to the surface. These relics will have wire gold piece value, or historical value, no doubt. That magical shield is quite interesting. I'd like to get that looked at by a sage to determine its properties!"
Alzaar looks at the rest of the group, after inspecting the urn.
This is sealed, do you think we should open it, or leave it be? We've had enough nasty surprises, this could be yet another...
"Perhaps we could carry the sealed run back to town before opening. You know, in case we need someone to break a curse close at hand. Just to be on the safe side."
"I agree with Rhade. We also do not know the condition of what is inside. I doubt Pharasma would be pleased if we ruined whatever was within by not using the proper technique. Perhaps we can ask a few historians up above?"
Sounds good to me. Let's gather these things and continue on.
Now that I've looked over the rest of the room, allow me to look at the shield, perhaps I can figure out its nature. I sense magic radiating from it.
Jalal presents the shield for Alzaar to inspect. "If we can't see what it does, I will simply use it. Perhaps its abilities will show itself to me. If this is a shield Akhentepi used, then it should have protection properties, yes?."
"That sounds like a good idea, for now anyway, Jalal."
Eventually, you head back to the intersection and go south, down another ramp of stairs. After checking the doors for traps, you enter. 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. The figure to the west is that of a jackal-headed man carrying a scepter or staff in his hand. Stone double doors, standing slightly ajar, lead to the east and west. Torch holders sculpted in the shape of bird skulls are built in each corner, and a thin layer of dust covers every surface.
Anka recognizes the statue of the woman to be that of Pharasma.
"I say we head toward the doors on the left. By the shape of this building so far, there should be at least a room or two that way that we need to search."
Alzaar searches the doors on the left for any traps, before peering inside.
Well Rhade, let me scout ahead a bit and I'll wave you forward when I know it's safe. Stay about fifteen feet behind me, so the next time we get attacked we won't be so spread out.
He unhooks his scorpion whip from his belt and keeps it ready.
"Rahde's right. The left makes more sense. These doors are open. Let's hope no one else has gotten in here before us."
"Do you see all the dust, Jalal? I doubt anyone has been here in a very, very long time. I prefer to head east, where Pharasma guards."
Alzaar takes 2 minutes checking the door for traps. Meanwhile, as you look around in the room, you can't help but catch your reflections in the mirror to the south. Along with the party's reflections, you see one of a human man with bronzed skin in his forties, wearing white ceremonial robes and a headdress. He has the likeness of the images you've seen previously of Ankhentepi. In addition, you notice the reflected images always appear to have stern and disapproving facial expressions.
After two minutes, Alzaar declares the door free of traps and opens it. Pillars line the walls of this rectangular chamber, interspersed with stone jackal heads extending from the walls. A stone altar, covered in a layer of dust, sits at the eastern end of the room.
Rhade detects magic as he heads for the strange alter. "any of you religious types know much about this? I wonder who this alter might have been dedicated to? He seemed to favor the old gods as well as Phrasma..."
Alzaar bows to the figure in the mirror before heading of down the hallway.
Ankhentepi, we mean not to disturb your resting place. We are here with permission of the pharaoh himself. We are not grave robbers, but seekers of knowledge and history. Please forgive our intrusion.
He then makes his way down the hallway, taking his time, staying alert, and inspects the altar.
Jalal notices Ankentepi's image with a start. He quickly bows to the spirit of the great general. "Honored one, our apologies for this intrusion. We have the utmost respect for your spirit. We seek to learn from our ancestors and help the city of Wati prosper from the ties of history. Your tomb has been entrusted to us for this sacred mission." He smiles, hoping for some reaction from the spirit.
Jalal looks up at the altar the others are speaking about.
Letting out a pleased murmur, Anka heads to the mirror with wide eyes. "Do you suppose its actually his spirit? Or simply a trick?" She casts detect magic on the mirror. "As my companions said, we come with permission from the Lady of Graves' emissaries."
So distracted by the mirror, she doesn't notice the new room much yet.
Alzaar's keen ears pick up clicking and he is not surprised when around the altar appear two tan small creatures, the size of cats, that look like ten-legged spiders. Oversized jaws grind together slowly beneath beady eyes as they rush to attack! Pic of creature
Round 1:
The tan vermin race in and attack Alzaar and Jalal, trying to bite them, their mandibles clicking and their legs clacking on the stone floor. The second one's bite find a non-armored piece of flesh and takes a chunk of the elf's leg, causing a grievous wound!
Alzaar casts a spell on his scorpion whip, and snakes it toward the creature attacking Jalal, attempting to wrap the bladed whip around the creature's foot.
Jalal curses as the deformed spider creature, tears at his leg, sparying blood everywhere. "Ahh! Cursed tomb spiders!" He raises his kopesh and slams it down toward the monster. "Die!"
Jalal's blade cuts the creature severely, spraying its black blood and most creatures would be dead by now, but the tomb spider is still alive and clicking!
Omg. I have edited my post twice, and paizo has eaten it both times. Ugh. Let me just post a new post entirely.
Alzaar attempts to tumble through the tomb spider, placing his back against the altar, and himself out of the range of an attack, and in range to trip the thing. He smiles confidently, as he feels his luck improving in this venture, and snakes his whip toward the creature, attempting to trip it.
Kakra gets bit in the foot as she moves past the creatures.
Rhade lobs a tiny splash of acid at the most visible vermin, trying to protect his friends.
Ranged Touch Attack
Damage
Alzaar skillfully steps and flips over the "spiders", before they can react and moves past them and reaches the altar. He lashes out with his whip and entails one the creature's legs, but the spider buckles and refuses to fall on its back as it supports itself on its other legs. It then kicks off Alzaar's whip!
Anka blinks at the large, spider looking creature. "Biggest damn spider I've seen!" She lunges forward, gripping her blade in both hands and seeking to pierce the creature between two of its chitinous plates. for
Anka's blow kills the already wounded spider, cutting it in half!
Round 2:
The fresh "tomb spider" full attacks Kakra and her battle stance deflects two of the creature's 3 blows!