Kito the Scholar |
"As suggested before, we could get some clubs and cheap holy symbols. If they don't attack people with the holy symbol, great. If they do, let them break clubs."
"Personally, I think heading back to the temple and reporting what we found is the best course of action."
Polux |
"Agreed" - Polux nods - "I don't feel like simply breaking my weapons just because - they cost me too much for that" - he chuckles - "Let's head back and report"
Qari Falexia |
Qari nods. She didn't see what else could be accomplished here...no more scrolls or tomes to be located.
Samy |
With the majority siding with leaving the Sanctum of the Erudite Eye, your time in this dungeon comes to an end. You return back aboveground and cast one final look at the ancient building. Djedihepet, whose mummy you found in that final room, founded the Sanctum more than six thousand years ago, and it has lasted all that long time in incredibly well preserved condition, no doubt significantly due to the "building elemental" ahkhat which you battled on the aboveground floor. No man can tell whether the ahkhat will be regenerated in some way, or whether without its upkeep the Sanctum will now fall to the ravages of time the same as any other building. Nonetheless, the site of your climactic battle with the Scorched Hand may live on in your memories for quite some time to come, whether you ever come back to this building in your lifetimes or not.
You make your way through the streets of the Necropolis, and as it did not take long for you to finish your investigations of the Sanctum today, the sun is still high in the sky and the shadows short. The dead city is silent with only the wind whistling and little dust clouds dancing with the breeze as you pass. Whereas early on, you might have seen movement in every shadow, by now you've been through the streets of the Necropolis close to a dozen times, and they are starting to feel familiar to you, and perhaps even a little less frightening. You make your way back to landmark of Pharasma's Needle close to the gates of the Necropolis, and pass back to the living city without incident.
From the Necropolis gate, you follow a street westward for four blocks until you are in good view of the Grand Mausoleum where you are meant to report your findings. (Map number 14 to number 8.) At the mausoleum, you are once again received by a group of rank and file priests acting largely as petty bureaucrats overseeing the exploration of the Necropolis.
How do you approach them?
Turel Garaldo |
Turel approaches the priests and bows in a show of respect. "Greetings. We have returned from our explorations of the Sanctum of the Erudite Eye and wish to report what we have discovered. Is Bal Themm available?"
Harmose Al-Nefer |
Do we recognize any of them? Harmose smiles, and personally greets any he has seen before. "A fine day, is it not? It is such a pleasure working with those who are meticulous in their duties. Thank you for your service." He bows, and gives them a gracious smile.
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26
Samy |
The priests' general attitude toward the adventuring groups participation in the exploration of the Necropolis is Unfriendly, but with your Diplomacy you do get them into Friendly disposition for the day. So while you're used to them as slightly reluctant and grumpy bureaucrats and have witnessed them acting like that when spying them with other groups (and occasionally with you), Harmose's smooth approach boosted by Aleris cause the priests to actually smile a little when they receive you. You're definitely one of the groups who has managed to get on their good side more often than not.
"Welcome, welcome, Discoveries Unlimited. So you have completed your exploration of the Sanctum of the Erudite Eye? This is excellent news. Come, tell us of your findings. Have you drawn maps? Were there squatters? Did you find any historical information or artifacts? Tell us all about them." Those assigned for scribing duty today sharpen their pens and check that their inkwells are full and retrieve sheafs of papyrus for the documenting of your latest adventure.
"Bal Themm should be finishing up her meditations in the third floor sacristy", the priests answer Turel. There is no rush to go up to meet the woman. Turel may stay here until the documentation process with the priests is done -- which may take hours -- or he may get bored with the process and ditch the group to go see his friend, either choice is possible.
Based on your prior experiences after the completion of the Tomb of Akhentepi and the House of Pentheru, you expect to be spending time with the priests for several hours. The Sanctum was about the size of the two previous sites combined, after all, so there's a lot to tell, maps, details, flora, fauna, all sorts of little stuff that the priests will endlessly ask about. They actually have a lengthy checklist that they pull out and go through, asking you about every checkbox even though some may not even be applicable to the Sanctum. So while you arrive at the Grand Mausoleum in the afternoon, interaction with the priests will take you to the evening.
One or two of you might be able to slip away without significantly affecting the time that the debriefing takes, but if half of you get impatient and go off to do something else, then the debriefing will actually take longer, letting the group out only close to midnight when the stars and moon are high. Please indicate if your character will stick around or if they will try to extricate themselves from the situation to go do something else. In the latter case, also roll Diplomacy to see how smoothly you manage to escape. :)
Do we recognize any of them?
Some of them are familiar to you enough to recognize by face and name, but you're not intimate friends or anything.
Ra-Khefer |
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Ra will stick around, for not even boredom can break the Pah-Met!
He will produce professional quality floorplans, maps and engineering sketches to support the exploration report.
Turel Garaldo |
Turel will stick around for the entire briefing as the things he has learned are certainly not boring! Once the briefing is completed he will excuse himself to have a talk with Bal Themm. He will not mention the news of the stolen relic to her but will request a meeting with Sebti the Crocodile for him and his friends.
Qari Falexia |
Qari has no reason to scurry off just yet, so she plans on sitting through the entire debriefing.
Kito the Scholar |
Kito will remain for the briefing. She is just as interested in what they already know and is interested in how the priests will react to various topics.
Harmose Al-Nefer |
Harmose eagerly stays for the briefing, pulling out his favorite notebook so that he can asnwer questions as accurately as possible.
Aleris Somciel |
As the group settles in for the debriefing, Aleris reviews a mental checklist of the various murals they'd seen inside the Sanctum as well as the architecture.
"Okay, so when you first step inside there's..." she begins explaining when her turn to speak arrives. Ra-Khefer's laying out of the floor plans and the engineering choices put into some of the doors and gates offers her a nice groundwork for describing the more artistic aspects of the temple.
Kito the Scholar |
Perplexed, Kito looks at Aleris. I would have led with the information about the strong aura. Even the royal decree or the hieroglyphs are surely worth mentioning early. Perhaps she is waiting for the priest that Turel mentioned?
Turel Garaldo |
Actually Turel would like to conceal that information from the lay priests and reveal it to only Sebti.
Samy |
You might want to have that conversation now then. It'll affect things just what you tell the lay priests and what you don't. :) Unless explicitly noted so, I will assume you tell the lay priests everything, so everything you want to skip telling them, make sure you note explicitly.
Turel Garaldo |
Before the meeting with the priests:
As the party approaches the Grand Mausoleum Turel speaks up softly, "I believe we should not inform the lay priests of the existence of the secret chamber and the relic that was held therein. Once we talk with Sebti in private, we can inform her of what we have discovered."
Kito the Scholar |
"Why?"
Realizing after she had said it that more might be required, she adds "I know that some of the priests can react before hearing the whole story, but isn't this something we should warn others of quickly? I would expect the most expeditious way to do that is to have the lay priests summon Sebti."
Polux |
"Why not inform the priests Turel?" - Polux shrugs as they move along.
Turel Garaldo |
Turel replies, "Considering what little we do know of the situation, it seems to me discretion is a wise course of action. Information once spread is impossible to retrieve. We should let Sebti decide how much to reveal."
Polux |
"I understood that" - he chuckles - "My question is - why is this something that requires discretion within the church? Apologies my friend but some intricacies elude me..."
Deseri |
Looking over at Turel, "Is there a reason you do not trust these priests? If the church trusts them to document everything then I do not see why we should hide anything. That is how history is lost, which is something I thought we were trying to avoid."
Qari Falexia |
"I agree with Des on this one. What proof do we have that the priests won't be straightforward? I say we inform hem of our finds, and perhaps there will be benefits down the road from our honesty."
Turel Garaldo |
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"But we saw the priests took great pains to conceal the existence of this relic. Why would they do that? They must have had good reasons to do so, correct?" Turel responds.
Kito the Scholar |
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"It was hidden by royal decree." Kito says, getting out her notes. She then recites the decree.
Link is to the picture of the decree.
Aleris Somciel |
"Huh...this is stranger and stranger," Aleris sighs. "At this point all I can say is it probably won't make a huge difference either way whether we tell the lay-priests the whole story or not. Let's just go with whatever most of us want to do, which sounds like it's 'tell the whole truth'."
______
I'm fine to just tell everyone the whole story at this point if that's what most of the PCs are in favor of.
Polux |
"I think I am more confused now than when I asked" - Polux laughs at Aleris - "Can't say I have a strong opinion one way or the other, so if Turel would like it done in a specific way I say we do it his way?" - he shrugs.
Turel Garaldo |
Turel shakes his head slowly, "If you all insist on being truthful to the priests then I shall not object openly. I simply believe discretion is the wiser course of action. The priests must not have known of the relic considering what we have seen so far."
Turel won't object if we tell the priests everything.
Samy |
Despite Turel's raised concerns, the group decides to be forthwith with the priests and inform them fully of the decree you found by Pharaoh Djederet II -- implying the concealment of some sort of "obscene relic" in the Sanctum of the Erudite Eye -- and of the secret room that you opened, with the waning arcane aura. The priests' reaction to these details is little different than to the other more mundane details you have told them -- they may raise their eyebrows a little, as this part of the Sanctum does sound a little more noteworthy than the rest, but mostly they scribe down what you tell them, with the occasional, "Fascinating" and "Interesting" interjecting. "What about...?", and so on. These guys are largely recorders, not big picture thinkers.
However, as mentioned earlier, Sebti arrives after you have been talking with the priests for about an hour or so. It's clearly not a situation where she has eagerly been awaiting your return and rushed to see you as soon as she heard you were back. More along the lines of, she heard in the hallways that you had returned and she decided to drop by when her regular duties afforded it. "Discoveries", she nods as she enters the chambers where the priests are interviewing you. "I bid you welcome back from your ventures. It's still relatively early in the afternoon. Should I take the hour as indication that you have completed your explorations of the Sanctum?"
Kito the Scholar |
Do these guys have any idea what this means? I would have expected them to send for someone higher up when we told them of the decree!
When Kito sees Sebti enter, she straightens up and looks towards her.
Nodding, Kito says "Yes, and one of the discoveries we made seems quite significant."
She will then tell Sebti of the decree and the aura, watching her reaction as she does so.
"Does our church have any information about this and what it may mean?" she asks, the concern obvious in her voice.
Samy |
"This is...very interesting." Sebti glances at the scribing priests and then back to Kito, her eyes narrowing in thought as she takes a few moments to process the information conveyed to her. Then, she gives a slight beckoning gesture with her hand, inviting Kito (and whoever else might wish to approach) to the other side of the chamber, away from the scribing priests, speaking in a lower voice but not an outright whisper. It appears that she's not exactly hiding things from the priests, but neither does she wish to interrupt their work.
"If this decree is genuinely by Djederet II, then it can be fairly precisely dated, for his reign is known. He is also of especial importance here in Wati, for it is he who ordered the construction of the city over six thousand years ago. With your permission, I would like to have our experts verify the authenticity of this decree. I think it is also best to send some people to investigate this waning aura you mentioned, in case something can be discerned of it before it disappears entirely. I can take care of that."
Harmose Al-Nefer |
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
Harmose raises an eyebrow. Good, she's taking this seriously.
"That would be acceptable, High Priestess Sebti. Do you have an estimate for us on when your investigations be complete?"
Kito the Scholar |
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Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11 Oblivious!
Kito asks "Could I be of aid in the research? I know several languages including Ancient Osiriani, recognized our founder's name from my studies of history, saw the magical aura and am no stranger to research."
diplomacy: 10 + 7 = 17
Kito the Scholar |
...one name search later...
"Kito the Scholar, daughter to Akhom Zaki the shopkeep. My family runs a general store along one of the routes through the outer farms."
Aleris Somciel |
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22
Okay good, seems like she'll take care of things from here!
"Thank you for hearing us out and believing us," Aleris responds, looking grateful. "Um...is there anything else that you need us to do now that we're done with our third site? If not, then I guess we'll be on our way for now."
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I can't think of any questions Aleris would have right now. Oh! What about the stuff we turned over that the Scorched Hand had?
Samy |
If you inquire the priests about the Scorched Hand's belongings, the priests will tell you that they don't know much about such things, but direct you to stop by the temple's quartermaster on your way out. "He deals with these sorts of mundane matters."
As to Aleris' question regarding 'what now', the priests will tell you that, "The third round of exploration has exhausted the potential sites in the Necropolis for the time being. The Ruby Prince's decree has been upheld, and you and your fellow adventuring groups have unearthed much information and items from places long lost to the ravages of the time. The church of Pharasma considers there to be no need for further disturbing the Necropolis. This endeavor is now over. We thank you for your service."
"As do we all", Sebti adds. "Go in peace, and may your path be clear."
Polux |
"That's it?" - Polux asks of his companions - "We're done?"
Harmose Al-Nefer |
"Apparently," Harmose says. "Our conversation with the Haty-a indicated that this might be the case. However, I hope I planted in the Governor's mind the idea that a group like ours could prove useful in a variety of situations. Shall we check with the quartermaster, my friend?"
Kito the Scholar |
Nodding, Kito notes "Yes, time to speak with the quartermaster."
Smiling, she notes "Just because there is nothing more to explore in the Necropolis doesn't mean there aren't other opportunities for a group like ours!"
Polux |
"Agreed" - Polux nods, happy with the prospect of visiting the quartermaster - "You know my opinion regarding the gear of those bastards anyway - it should go to us after all"