MUMMY'S MASK ADVENTURE PATH - GM Spazmodeus

Game Master Spazmodeus

Harmini showers the thing with fire and the smell of burning bone fills the room. It turns its focus in that direction, looking straight at Alexandra.

Alex, it is now your turn.

I had already looked at the creature's abilities and defenses and I'm sticking with that. As a standard I am casting my spell, I have 2 level 1 spells left. As my move action I will place my lantern on the ground and then 5 foot step into the room. If it wants to get me it will allow Chui to 5 foot step behind it and then use a standard action to attack. Kill it fast, this isn't going to end well for me if this goes long.

If I run it will chase me. If it chases me, they can't follow me.
This is going to hurt.

Yes Miss Wakestep, right away. Bam, use krunch. Chui, use your claws.

I move my spear into the crook of my arm and conjure a ball of acid, hurling it at the snake. I quickly but safely put my lamp on the ground and after steeling myself for the world of pain that will almost certainly come my way, I step into the room.

Alexandra throws the ball of acid and covers the necrophidius with it. The bones sizzle but remain in motion. The necrophidius moves closer to Alexandra and strikes out at her. The bite is on target but the invisible force of her Mage Armor spell prevents the strike from damaging her.

Harmini, it is your turn.

I don't think the others can help us now, Alex. Step back and I'll burn it again.

It's a bad idea to stand toe to toe with this creature. Alex is either very brave or very foolish... Perhaps a bit of both.

Harmini returns to the wall by the doorway and prepares to activate her wand a second time.

Harmini - 5' Step NW. Standard Action - Ready an action to activate the Wand of BH once Alex moves out of the way (south or east, doesn't matter which as the cone will remain the same as before). No Move Action. Alabaster - No actions.

But they need our help...

I quickly scan the room and see that neither of them are moving.

...yes Miss Wakestep.

I am going to take a 5 foot step back and ready an action to cast a spell once Harmini uses her wand. This will keep the the combat order the same and both our spells hitting it at the same time will look cool.

so do i get to go after the bone thing goes again or is it another turn before i can act?

Triggering Harmini's readied Action.

Harmini activates her spiraled wand a second time as Alex moves back.

Alexandra backs off a little and Harmini baths the necrophidius in flame again. This time it moves quicker and avoids the major blow of it.

Alex, please cast your spell.

My bad, I’m throwing a ray at it.

Chui drools aggressively in what may or may not be the direction of the foe.

Don't want anyone to think that Chui's not pulling his weight even in his dazed condition.

Alexandra's glob of acid goes wide, marring the wall slightly as the necrophidius ducks to the side. It responds by moving forward and striking out again at Alexandra. Once again the invisible force prevents the strike from actually penetrating.

Bam, it is your turn. You are no longer dazed.

Not good. not good. not. good.

Get way from dem. NOW!

my leaves rustle wildly as i fly into a rage at the thought of the ladies doing this alone. i take two quick steps to get behind the snake thing. and swing to take its head off with Krunch!

free action rage. 5' step westr into flank with alex. raging power attack with earth breaker. this round of rage is free from the barbarian chew. heal 1 hp from fast healing gain hp from rage 6 i think

Bambara comes around from the trance he was in and raises his earthbreaker high. The smash from the bones impacting the floor shatters them into shards. The construct stops move and slumps to the floor.

After a few more seconds, Chui also shakes off the trance.

Woah, that’s the third time today that we’ve pulled out a victory after unexpected circumstances have worked to put us at a disadvantage. The ambush, the gate mishap, and now this. We’re pretty incredible if I do say so myself.

I’ll have to be more observant in the future, I got lucky that time. Thanks everyone for coming to my rescue.

I look around the room quizzically.

Umm speaking of observations, what is this room? You would think that a secret room in a temple would be filled with religious objects that the clergy wanted to keep hidden and there is nothing here. Also this statue doesn’t look like it belongs here, I would expect that it would look more like the guardian. Could this be a specific person? A high priest maybe?

I begin talking out loud.

But this place is a temple, not a tomb. Why would they have a statue of someone else in a secret room of a temple that only the high priest has access to. This is very strange.

Chui snaps out of his daze alert and ready to go ...

Where's the bad guy! I'll turn him into chutney!

Oh, he's dead is he. Why is there all this drool on my chin?

too much nip chui-chui

I gesture to statue with krunch! looking to see if it needs smashing

Harmini drops her spiraled wand on the floor as its fiery glow fades, forever spent.

Well. I suppose that takes care of that.

She steps into the room slowly and begins to examine her surroundings.

Let's hope this creature was guarding something valuable at least.

Got distracted again. We need to find the Scorched Hand.

Right, let's give the room a once over and resume looking for Miss Hypaxes.

I give the room a sweep of detect magic just in case I missed something.

Too much nip! As if such a thing were possible!

Chui watches Alex's use of detect magic, and when she's done, he looks for traps and secret doors/compartments.

The party moves in and begins exploring. Harmini explores the hieroglyphs on the walls are as they are in Ancient Osiriani. Alex searches for sources of magic and Chui looks for more mundane things. Bambara keeps an eye out for trouble.

Well, whatever was magical in here is long gone. That statue is creeping me out...anyone find anything interesting?

Harmini re-reads the hieroglyphs aloud in the common tongue.

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.

Any knowledges checks available to recall more information on the "Reliquary of the Thrice-Divided Soul", "ka" or the "Forgotten Pharaoh"?

I nervously fidget as Harmini reads the ominous words on the wall.

Hmm, that’s not helping.

A tomb for a Pharaoh inside of a temple of Nethys? And a tomb to be forgotten, that’s very strange. Maybe this was what Miss Hypaxes was looking for.

Legions of the damned and the dead sounds like Dad’s handiwork, so that’s strike two on this place.

Um guys, take a careful look at the statue. Up until recently, it was wearing something on its head. I'll bet Bam's weight in uncut nip, that the "something" was Relic-thingy of Bad Stuff. With luck, that Hypaxes chick is currently suffering the "harsh judgement of the Forgotten Ones."

Chui takes a second to try and find out where and how the blood trail/bloody steps originated in this room.

Any knowledges checks available to recall more information on the "Reliquary of the Thrice-Divided Soul", "ka" or the "Forgotten Pharaoh"?

Whoops, I knew I missed something.

Wait a moment...this keeps getting stranger and stranger.

Hold on, the blood trail went the other way, back towards the exit. If Miss Hypaxes took the Reliquary of the Thrice Divided Soul, she doesn’t seem like the person who would split her group up when she knows she could be pursued. And she must of had some kind of magical healing within her group, if not a few potions. Someone from the Scorched Hand stumbling back by themselves doesn’t make sense. Hmmm. Either way I don’t know if we will get any answers here. This is very odd.

I put my head wrap back on as I move to the door and look down the hallway towards the east.

Maybe something else is at work here. Perhaps Miss Hypaxes didn’t want us killed after all. Perhaps she did. This is going to change the way I approach this confrontation.

I think the most logical conclusion we can make is that someone took something valuable from this room by force. Whoever it was is very likely gone by now. Whether it was Velriana or not remains to be seen.

I believe there is a spell capable of divining someone's identity with nothing more than a few drops of their blood. What was it called? Hmmm... once we're finished here maybe I should collect a sample for further analysis.

After a few moments of thought, Harmini draws out her crossbow once again.

I agree with Alex, we'll need to look elsewhere for now to learn more.

Given the new evidence that we’ve found, I believe there is more reason to doubt my theory, my previous certainty, that Miss Hypaxes was behind the ambush. The Div, the mysterious bloodied footprints traveling away with a potentially massive historical find, none of that makes sense given what we know about her. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be careful, but we might not want to be overly accusatory when we meet her. She might be here to beat us to the punch rather than literally beat us.

I look around at everyone and then ask a leading question.

So when we do find them, how are we going to handle it if they aren’t immediately hostile? Forgive me if we’ve been over this before.

Very quietly, as if saying it in this way will plan a seed into everyone’s unconscious mind, I mutter out.

I could parley?

Harmini can't manage to contain a small giggle at Alex's remark.

Parlay? Don't be ridiculous, Alex. We're not pirates. We have all the advantage here. Everything inside this archaeological site rightfully belongs to us and we have full authority from the church of Pharasma to remove any and all obstacles in our way...

She continues to smile cheerfully.

This absolutely includes wayward members of any competing groups who may have stumbled into the wrong sanctum by accident. I see no reason that we can't handle a chance encounter with civility. They would only need to forfeit any stolen treasures to us and leave immediately. Couldn't be simpler.

Harmini steals a glace toward a watchful ghoran and whispers back to Alex.

Besides, if they are foolish enough to choose violence over reason, we have a Bambara with a very large hammer. What could possibly go wrong?

A lot could potentially go wrong. It’s true that we have the Pharasmins’ blessing to be here, but we’ve seen what that gets us. Nothing. If they killed us, took everything in here and went back to town I doubt anyone would raise an eyebrow unless they also took our bodies back with them and dangled them in front of the guards. And even then, I’m unsure.

I throw up my hand in a gesture of deflated frustration.

Not that I’m mad. Well, I am, but I understand. Actually I don’t understand thier reasons for acting the way they do but I accept it. They must have a reason for being no help at all with anything and I’m OK with that, it’s a bit like a goblin daycare center. They put the walls up, but they don’t care what happens inside.

I let’s out a deep sigh as I run my hand through my hair.

We have no safety net, our authority is worth nothing to the Scorched Hand and what’s more we don’t know what they can do. They have a rogue who we know is not a match for Chui and I can imagine thier spearman could go toe to toe with Bambara, but Miss Hypaxes looks like a magic minded person and so does the crying boy. My magical ability is almost depleted for the day so combat makes me very nervous because we know they only cast one, maybe 2 spells. All that I’m asking is that you allow me to speak with them first. Maybe we can get them to leave. If not, you three can take it from there.

Harmini looks back over to the hieroglyphic warnings.

Nothing is "safe" in this world. I assure you, I have no desire for bloodshed but I do not fear it. There are far worse fates than death...

Thrice-Divided Soul indeed. How often can a soul split? Was it more than a century in Dis? A millennia? I can't remember... It certainly wasn't filled with fields of daisies and picnic baskets. I wonder if that's really what Heaven's like? Axis likely suits my palette better. Maybe one day, I will find out where my "ka" truly rests.

After a few long moments deep in thought, Harmini then smiles and places her hand gently on Alex's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her frustrations.

Don't be afraid. I'm certain that you will be more than adequately persuasive when the time comes. If all else fails, I promise that I will do my best to protect you. It will be alright, dear.

I hear bits of the talk between the ladies, walk to them and
If all else fails den me 'n' Krunch! handle it.

bambara fight anyone for harmany or Alex or Fuzzball

that snake thing dance thing was neat

I smile back at Harmini and then give Bambara a nudge on his huge shoulder.

You two are right. We will do our best. Bambara will protect me and you always know what to do when I stumble. Add Chui’s jokes and sneaky moves to the mix and it should be obvious why we made it this far. We aren’t just authorized to be here, we belong here.

I step closer to chui
that ting was creepy. No hep but look at it huh?
bambara sure all the nip no hep either

Jokes? What jokes?

Chui smiles and nods toward Harmini ...

Strong negotiating position Lady H, surrender the bling or else. I like it.

He then looks about ...

So, we ready to move on and inflict a little "diplomacy" on Hypaxes and her stooges?

Though it would be a shame to damage Idorii. I'd been hoping to invite her to our Bastetian Sunday School.

I pull out my potion of Eagle's Splendor.

Yep, l'm ready for this.

So, we ready to move on and inflict a little "diplomacy" on Hypaxes and her stooges?

Not sure if you're waiting on an rp response from Harmini to move the game along here... However, please assume that she is ALWAYS ready (regarding buffs, spells, healing, weapons etc.) and will follow Chui throughout the dungeon based on our previously established exploration guidelines. There is no need to ask/check with each member of the group at every turn whether they are ready or not as it only serves to drastically slow down the gameplay in pbp format. I may or may not have already mentioned this specifically before. In either case, please pick a direction and continue.

So,is Alex not holding her spear or not hold her lantern?

Getting to that.

Thinking for a moment, as I leave I wedge my spear into the secret door in an attempt to keep it from closing before picking up my lamp.

That gate back there closed on its own so let’s make sure this door stays open. I’d like to come back here eventually. Besides, juggling that thing and my lamp and casting spells is starting to become an issue. Umm Bam, could I borrow your dagger? I’ll give it back to you when we get out of here.

Assuming that Bam provides Alex with a dagger, we are off to the east.

Same formation and roles as before, I have moved Chui's icon on roll20.

yes alex can have my dagger

The hit it bambara codeword is Trent whiskers. No use it, bambara tink you a ok
still need to find out who trent is

I blink a few times and then smile.

A phrase that I can say to indicate that he should attack? That’s...a brilliant idea.

Good plan Bam.

Chui and Bam lead the group forward down the corridor to where it turns more toward the south. From here there appears to be some kind of gate to the south, similar to the one encountered at the beginning of the lower level. In addition, a corridor leads off further east to what appears to be a set of double doors.

You do not see anything unusual, nor detect any traps, nor any secret doors, nor anything with scent, nor anything with detect magic.

Two doors? Hmmm, which way do that tracks go Chui?

Do we see any tracks or any other evidence of people, creatures, etc. moving about? I know Chui's Survival is crap, -1.

Let's take a gander through the gate to the south, and then if there are do demon princes there, we'll check out the double doors to the east. Best to make sure nothing bad takes us in the flank.

I aim to have only good things nip at my flanks.

Moving to the southeast as before until Chui and Bam can see what lays beyond the gate.

Moved Chui on roll20.

There is no tracks but as you round the corner the room to the south is clearly lit by torches.

Chui and Bambara works their way to the next corner. Two rows of columns support the vaulted ceiling of the large chamber beyond the gate. Inscribed hieroglyphs cover most of the room’s walls, but the southern wall is rough and unfinished. Three passages, each closed with a bronze gate, exit the room to the north, east, and west.

OK Alex, it's time. No need to be nervous, just think of this as just another briefing. "Your primary success condition is to get the Scorched Hand out of out of this temple and have them turn over anything they have found in this temple to Miss Wakestep. Your secondary success condition is to get them to leave non-violently and find out if Miss Hypaxes really does want to kill you, she seemed like such a nice person. And her outfit is amazing."

As I drink my potion I put my lantern on the ground and walk behind Chui, putting my hand on his shoulder.

Hello? Miss Hypaxes? Are you in there? Is everything alright?

Note to self, sign up Maid Alex for a distance education course on tactics.

Does Chui recognize the smell at all? In terms of Hypaxes and company, I suspect he has a pretty good sense of Idorii's scent, some sense of Hypaxes, and little to none about the other two.

Is there an obvious way of opening the gate where from where Chui is currently and is there any evidence of the "close behind you" trap we encountered earlier?

The scent seems to be that of Idorii, but there are others as well. As for the gate, it seems to be just like the last gate. you cannot tell any real details of the lock or possible trap from the distance though.

From around the corner of the room a familiar voice responds.

"Ah, young acolyte Trazaron," Velriana says, "it is good to hear your voice again. Of course everything is alright."