Mummy's Mask

Game Master Samy

"Yeah...sounds like a good idea," Aleris admits. "We can wait and give the spear a better look later on, if it'd be easier. I think there's still maybe one or two rooms left down here to have a look at, right?"

The crypt is quiet and pleasantly cool. You hear no noises from any direction other than those of your own making. You may be the only living entities in this crypt.

"Okay, well besides the room with the statue-things, I think there was one other way to go," Aleris muses. "That room where we fought the Scorched Hand, there was a gate in the southeast corner and it looks like there's another room just down this hallway here (D18). Let's go check it out, okay?"

With that, she readies her glaive and pads down the hallway towards the unexplored room.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22
_________

I think D18, the one corridor leading from D19 and a further investigation of room D15 (including the animated statues/columns) are all that we have left to cover. Aleris is heading towards D18 first.

D18.

A locked bronze gate, identical to the one in area D12, separates this room from the rest of the crypts.

A large, star-shaped fountain with a circular basin in the center occupies most of this octagonal chamber, surrounded by a ring of stones engraved with hieroglyphs. Roaring blue flames rise from the basin to almost touch the ceiling. The area is separated from the rest of the complex by a metal gate just to the south.

You cannot examine the room more closely until you can get in, which will require either breaking down the bars or unlocking them with Disable Device.

Turel approaches the gate with a look of wonder on his face. "What sort of magic is this? Is it worth the risk of tampering with?"

Int check: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

"I'm not sure, one moment while I check."

She then casts detect magic.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25

So can someone Aid Another on this? Some GMs allow it, others don't.

"I'm detecting two separate auras. The stronger one is illusion, the weaker has elements of evocation and transmutation -- which is a rather strange combination."

With a DC that high, it would be pretty mean not to allow Aid Another. I'll allow it.

Int Check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

"Oh! Sure Kito, let me have a look..." Aleris murmurs as she too casts a detection spell and attempts to study the magical auras.

Spellcraft (Aid Another): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

"Right, evocation and transmutation is an odd combo...maybe it's..."

"...to provide real heat? The evocation, that is. The flames themselves are a permanent illusion. With just an illusion you could feel warm and still be freezing while I think this would actually warm you! Any ideas on the transmutation?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure...maybe the transmutation makes the flames blue instead of orange?" Aleris shrugs. "That or maybe it's what makes them reach so high."

While the other busy themselves with the intricacies of the magic in place, Polux checks the gate for traps.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 + 1d6 ⇒ (11) + 10 + (3) = 24
Disable Device if needed: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28

Polux easily opens the gate. There are no traps. You may freely proceed into D18.

Turel eyes the magical flames uneasily. "Are these flames safe to approach?"

"From what Kito's said and what I've been able to figure, I think so," Aleris nods. "It's actually pretty fancy magic - enchanted to give off heat and light but it's not actual flame so it won't hurt you if you get too close."

Nodding, Kito agrees. "Yes, from what I can tell it is heat without a real flame so you shouldn't burn yourself even sticking a hand directly in it."

Thinking a moment, she says "It is quite artistic in the use of magic, but I'm wondering what purpose it has? It wouldn't be easy to create something like this..."

"Well, let's find out shall we?"

The sylph bravely steps forward to have a closer look around the room, as well as at the blue flame.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

Those entering the room may engage in further investigation as follows:

There may or may not be further details as well that cannot be determined with a simple skill roll.

Nodding in reply to Aleris, Turel also moves into the room and scans the room for any other hidden dangers.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18 Add +4 for stone traps.

Kn. Arcana: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

With her detection spell still active, Aleris continues to scan around the small room to make sure nothing is missed. Though she picks up on another magical aura she's not entirely sure where it's coming from since she's still getting readings from the enchanted flames as well.

"Kito, Harmose, any ideas here? I think there's another magic aura in here but it's hard to read!" she calls.

Perception 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Qari follows the others in, looking around at the strange room. Distracted, she finds nothing out of the ordinary.

Ra stepped into the room and studied the construction.
Knowledge:Engineering: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
Perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (18) + 0 = 18

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

"Hey, there's a secret door here, with hieroglyphs! One moment while I pause to read them!"

Harmose pauses to translate the ancient Orisiriani.

Is the door magical? If it's magical, what schools does it reek of?

Harmose translates the hieroglyph-engraved sandstone figurine and the conclusion seems obvious: This figure must be the keystone of the ahkhat encountered on the upper floor, and the Ancient Osiriani hieroglyphs on the figure reveal how the creature could be controlled. For now, hoewever, the stone may be useless since you may have destroyed the creature when you encountered it.

The secret door has no magic aura.

Kito goes over to where Aleris is examining and looks at the auras.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12

"I have no idea what is happening with the auras!"

She talks for a bit with Aleris about magical theory.

Kn: Arcana, Aid another: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20 If anyone else can Aid, we unlock it.

Polux follows Harmose's lead to check the secret door.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20
Disable Device if needed: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (5) + 13 = 18
Disable Device (using Inspiration) if needed: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (11) + 13 = 24

No disable was needed for the secret door.

"The door is safe" - he informs Ra-Khefer and Turel.

"Very well Polux. Let me take the lead here." Turel replies as he peers inside the secret chamber.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

The small room beyond the door contains a carved sandstone figure of a humanoid engraved with hieroglyphs. It is about 5 feet tall and weighs approximately 570 pounds.

(That's the one Harmose was translating. There may have been misconception about whether you had opened the door already.)

Perplexed, Kito examines the hieroglyphs on the figure. "Now why would they go to so much effort to hide this?" she mutters.

Harmose grins and bows mischievously to Kito. "My dear Kito, shall we find out?"

With a nod, Kito brings up Detect Magic again to check if there is anything magical in the room.

Not other than the sandstone figure.

"Well, I guess now we know where the ahkhat was bound," Aleris muses as they investigate the tiny hidden chamber. Then she shrugs. "Seems like that's all there is to see in these rooms. Want to move on to that corridor down the way there?" she points.

"There can't be much else in this place, can there? We've covered a ton already," Qari whispered as she followed Aleris's direction.

"You are correct Qari," Turel responds as the group makes its way back towards the chamber where they fought the Scorched Hand previously. "The Hand was trying to figure out a way to bypass this grate when we arrived. We should pick up on that investigation."

The sooner we are finished here the better.

Once everyone has congregated, Turel moves to the corner where the corridor stands barred. "Polux, I need your assistance here." He murmurs as he examines the walls and floor.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28 Add +4 if trap for Trap Intuition.

You make your way to D19, the room where the Scorched Hand was, and Polux can easily open the lock on the gate leading east from the room. The hallway goes east for a short distance, then turns north and opens up into a room.

Hieroglyphs cover the walls of this chamber. In the middle of the room, a large and majestic stone sarcophagus rests atop a raised stone platform, and several clay jars sit on the floor nearby. Two lacquered benches stand near the doors to the south.

You have now explored the complete map of this level.

"Well, it doesn't look like anyone else has been in here at least," Aleris comments as she once more calls on her detection magic and scans the room. "Hopefully we'll be able to leave this place behind us very, very soon!"
_________

Aleris will cast Detect Magic and look around.

Knowledge: History: 10 + 11 = 21

Kito takes her time examining the room and the hieroglyphs. She gets a far away look in her eyes as she considers what she knows.

"This is amazing! This is the tomb of the first high priest of the Sanctum!"

Pointing to some of the hieroglyphs, she says "He was named Djedihepet and is described as a wise counselor, trusted keeper of secrets, and good friend of the Pharaoh."

Looking back to the rest of the group, she adds "That should have been Pharaoh Djederet II, the same one who founded Wati and was mentioned in the tablet we found!"

Tablet from area D9

Detect Magic doesn't turn up any magical auras.

"That is indeed a fascinating find Kito." Turel nods in agreement. "It is fortunate this place was not plundered as we have seen earlier. Still, whoever stole the relic was not interested in mere wealth as we would have seen other areas plundered." He rubs his forehead in irritation. "We had best return to the Church now. These developments are most troubling and the Church needs to be informed."

"If there's nothing else here that bears a closer look then you're probably right," Aleris nods. She glances at the others. "We uh, did look at everything, right?"
________

I'm trying to remember if there's anything on this level that we needed to go back and double-check before we head out. Have we basically hit all the high notes here?

"I think we've hit everything, but we still haven't gone in the room with constructs."

"We should just check and be done with it" - Polux nods.

"Oh, that's right," Aleris frowns. "I guess we'd better be ready to fight then if we're going to go back and check it out further."
_________

After a bit of searching, this is the description for D15 where the constructs are. Scroll down a few posts to see what we learned about the constructs the first time around when they animated.

Turel frowns. "I do not believe the reward here outweighs the risk. We should detail the nature of these constructs and inform the Church what we have discovered."

"You think so?" Aleris asks. "Hum...Harmose did say that they'd shatter most normal weapons. If we had some holy symbols of Nethys we could test to see if they'd ignore anyone carrying them but you might be right, it might be more trouble than it's worth."

She looks at the rest of the group. "What do you guys think?"
___________

For what it's worth, I'm fine with simply heading back out and calling it a wrap on this place if everyone else is.

"Well, we've cleared the place of enemies, explored it all, and removed for safety all the man portable treasures present; isn't that the whole of the mission?" Ra asked.
"I think we're done here."