Taking a moment to put her hand on her stomach and let a little magic flow through her. Quietly trailing after the group. I cannot believe I thought this would be a good idea. Their baby is going to be born into a undead world at this rate... Assuming I survive."
“It isn’t large, but I have my mace.” Kito offers, holding forth silver light mace.
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Polux examines the fallen mummy, but does not find any relevant information. He stows away part of the wraps though.
The healing on Ra-Khefer may not have a normal effect. Turns out he has an affliction of some kind. Kito's four wand CLWs and Harmose's spell CLW will have to roll for it:
Anyone casting a conjuration (healing) spell on the afflicted creature must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check, or the spell is wasted and the healing has no effect.
Finally,
following the events at the Canny Jackal, the Four Lanterns start to worry they’re in over their heads. If the PCs slay the mummy Amadjawet in area A4, the Four Lanterns’ wizard decides to retire and leaves some of his gear to the PCs in thanks, consisting of a +1 dagger, a scroll of burning hands, a scroll of color spray, a scroll of grease, and a scroll of shield.
I will waive the identification phase since the items come willingly and benevolently from someone who knows what they are. The wizard is present among the auction house civilians, so the items are available immediately.
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A City in Peril
After this initial wave of undead, things calm down slightly -- at least at the Canny Jackal. The howls of rotting lungs and screams of mortal fear echo across the city, and it quickly becomes clear that the Sunburst Market isn’t the only location under siege.
You group up the civilians of the auction house and lead them out of the damaged building. Outside, Polux's 28 Perception roll spots some signs that suggest a direction the zombies (the first encounter) may have come from. It is not in the same direction as the Grand Mausoleum, however. You would have to decide whether to investigate (either bringing the civilians along or leave them to wait inside the auction house), or to head straight for the Pharasmin temple without detours.
Several civilians are panicky and afraid, and may be difficult to keep in a sensible, easily defensible formation. You may assign up to three characters to be in charge of the civilians, and they will need to roll a skill (Diplomacy is the obvious one, but others may apply) to see how well they keep the civilians in tow. However, keeping an eye on the civilians is highly distracting, and as a result, the characters who take on this roll will have a fixed Initiative count of 1 as long as the civilians are along.
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Panic Level
Wati's unrest in this adventure is modeled by a number called Panic Level. The Panic Level begins at 20 after the attack on the Canny Jackal, and it is automatically increased by 1 at each sunset. (The auction was one hour after sunset, so the next Panic Level increase isn't due until tomorrow evening.) The Panic Level may increase by more than 1 per day if you are particularly sedentary between two sunsets. Panic Level is reduced mainly through your actions (since you're the heroes of this story :) ) and several encounters have a Panic Level reduction reward in addition to normal XP/treasure.
Panic Level affects more than just flavor; it has crunch effects as well. As an example, here are the effects for the current Panic Level of 20.
Ghost Town: The streets of Wati are virtually abandoned and the city temporarily gains the Hunted disadvantage while at this Panic Level. The vast majority of shops are closed and most services are unavailable, making prices soar 200% above normal. Wati’s temples are so inundated with refugees that they cannot provide spellcasting services above 1st level. (Crime +4; Economy, Law, and Society –4; Danger +20; reduce base value by 20%)
Ghost Town effects will persist with a Panic Level of 20-24. If Panic Level rises to 25, or falls to 19, new effects will replace the Ghost Town effects, but you do not know them until you get there. You can make an educated guess, however, that the lower Panic Level gets, the closer to normal things will generally get.
Book 2 ending XP reward will be affected by the Panic Level at the end of the adventure. The lower you get it, the better.
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I have uploaded a new Wati map that has labels for areas of importance in Book 2.
You are starting in Area A, the Canny Jackal. The Grand Mausoleum (Pharasma's temple) is about 1000 feet/333 yards/300 meters away, so it's not a long distance at all. An unencumbered and uninjured person can probably run from the Jackal to the Mausoleum in a minute, but the civilian group is full of old, injured, unconscious and otherwise slow-moving people, so taking the civilian group from the Jackal to the Mausoleum is more like a five minute task.
If, that is, the process is not interrupted. Heh heh.
After trying twice, Kito apologizes. “This doesn’t seem to be working, Ra-Khefer! We will have to find another way to heal you.”
She then saves the last two charges.
“I think we best get these people to safety, get Ra-Khefer his weapons and armor, and only then investigate.”
Turel looks on in concern as the healing magics fail to heal the oread. "This is not...encouraging. Kito is right we need to get these people to safety before we investigate where the zombies came from."
Kito moves around the people, calmly telling them to keep together. If everyone helps each other, we should be able to get them to the temple.
Keeping a hand over her lower stomach, "Ra-Khefer I have a morning star if you want it."
Doing her best to keep aware of the impending undead hoards, "Temple first?"
Polux stares across the city, and at the path before them, mentally tracing a route that would take them as fast as possible to Pharasma's temple.
"Let me scout the path ahead" - he nods at the others - "I will be right back"
"Just in case..." - Polux whispers to himself with a harsh voice after the mutation takes place.
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Aleris and Kito take charge of the noncombatants, herding them along while the rest of the group focuses on preparing for trouble. Fortunately, the distance between the Canny Jackal and the Grand Mausoleum is short, and though you can hear screams and crashes in the distance, there is no visible trouble that enters your line of sight. You make it to the temple without incident.
Should the PCs report to any of Wati’s temples or government buildings, they are immediately recruited for civil defense, and in exchange are offered free healing at the Grand Mausoleum
At the front steps of the temple -- where the lottery originally took place, and you got assigned to the Tomb of Akhentepi, what seems like ages ago -- you are met by a group of armed men.
"Ho there! You appear armed and ready for battle! In the name of Pharasma, we charge you with the protection of this city!" The armed men receive the noncombatants from you, freeing you from them. Several of the noncombatants give you hugs, handshakes, kisses on cheeks, deep bows and other assorted gestures of gratitude and affection, before they file into the temple for shelter.
"In return for your sword arm to vanquish this menace, our temple's priests can offer you healing from injury", the leader of the armed men speaks. He is not anyone you have met before or otherwise recognize -- he is probably of sufficiently low rank not to be particularly important.
Turel nods in greeting as he recognizes the priests for who they are. "Give my regards to Nakht Shepses. As for healing, my companion", indicating Ra-Khefer, "was struck by a mummy earlier. Can you do anything for him?"
Happily handing her morning star to Ra, "I don't wanna get close."
Quietly following to the temple, "Does that mean we get potions or if we come here we get healing?"
"That's a good idea. I want to be sure Farhaan is okay. With all this undead storming the town, we need to secure as much of the area as possible.". Qari took off toward the Tooth and Hookah!
Polux is caught by surprise as the people thank them profusely - he really does not know how to react, so he simply nods, saying "Everything will be ok"
He listens to his companions as they discuss where to head next - as the Tooth & Hookah is referenced his mind absently drifts to Sigrun, but he shakes his concerns away for the time being, and his logic minds begins to work furiously.
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There is indeed a city guard headquarters. The following is marked on the Book 2 map as location E.
Precinct of Left Eyes: This retrofitted fortress houses Wati’s town guard. Long ago, Wati’s laws dealt only two punishments: gouging out the right eye, or death. Though these laws soon proved untenable, over the years, the locals’ nickname for the palace of justice came to be its official moniker. The precinct encloses guard barracks, a jail, and two dozen pillories used for public punishments for minor transgressions.
In response to Deseri's query: if you come back to the temple, there will be free Cure Light Wounds spells available, but no potions to be handed out to be used in the field.
Tooth and Hookah (24 on Book 1 map) + Precinct of Left Eyes (15 on Book 1 map/E on Book 2 map) are on table as possible options to head to. You also had a trail at the Canny Jackal for where the zombies might have come from. Let me know where you head first. All three are in fairly different directions. Tooth and Hookah is northeast from the Grand Mausoleum, Precinct of Left Eyes is southeast, Canny Jackal is northwest. (Note that the Wati maps are oriented so that east is up.)
"Since the Precinct is on the way towards the Tooth and Hookah, I suggest we make our way there first." Turel replies.
"You read my mind Turel?" - Polux puzzles at his companion's words, as if he had read his intentions.
"Precinct it is" - Polux nods - "Same as before. Give me about 30 paces of distance, then try to move as quietly as possible - I'll try to scout ahead"
Turel hefts his spear and follows Polux 30 paces back. "We will come to assist you should you need help Polux."
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Can he see in the dark? With some of the other things he has done with those chemicals, I'm no longer sure.
"Polux, will you be able to see alright in the dark?" Kito asks worriedly.
She will fall in with the other (non-sneaky) people, and start looking towards the sky. If there do not appear to be any aerial dangers after about 15 minutes, she would suggest to Thera that she carefully help scout.
"Understood friends, and don't worry Kito" - Polux nods at his companions just as he moves off into the darkness - "I see everything much clearer now..." - and you can swear you hear him chuckle as he moves off.
Glad I brought that thing. Quietly moving with the ones deemed not stealthy enough to be in the front. though in a undead invasion does it really matter?
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You make your way to the Precinct of Left Eyes without running into anything moving. The Precinct itself seems to have no activity within. It may be that the guard is fully tasked in field work defending the city.
Next to the Precinct, law courts and halls of justice fill the surrounding blocks, many of them as old as Wati itself. You particularly notice an old courthouse:
A low sandstone building—worn smooth from centuries of exposure—stands out among the larger, more recent constructions. Statues lining the wall hold swords and scales, but the fresh corpses scattered on the street outside the doors hint at something far darker within.
Polux observes the scene for a few moments allowing time to drift by, as his mind analyzes the display before him.
The aasimar's eyes trail the bloody paths as far as they can, then linger on the front doors, waiting for a few more seconds before he decides to plod forward, first checking the corpses, then taking another look at the building to confirm he is not being observed.
And then proceeding carefully up to the front doors to check for further clues, noises, or maybe even peek inside if the doors are ajar.
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If the PCs examine the dead bodies, it’s immediately apparent that each of them has had one eye removed.
Polux does not yet notice anyone observing him. Polux hears some noises from within, but I am going to hold off from going further than that until some others have had a chance to react to the revelations so far.
The Powerpoint has been updated with a new page. I have reset all your tokens to one square size, I assume Polux's Enlarge has worn off by now? All your tokens are grouped under the compass rose, but feel free to place them as you wish. For convenience purposes, we can say that you can find and examine a corpse in any square of the map that you choose. (But that does not mean that every square of the map actually holds corpses. :) )
Taking a moment to examine the bodies, Kito winces. "Long ago, there were only two punishments for a crime: either removing an eye or death. Given the location, I can't help but think this is related."
Turel glances at another corpse yet is unable to determine anything unusual about these corpses.
"We should explore further. I suspect there are more undead inside."
Qari patiently waits for Polux ‘s report on his findings.
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The human pleads and whimpers, and just as you take up your stealth position -- before you act -- the red skeleton stands up from a thronelike chair in front of the captive human. "I find you guilty of all charges. Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! I sentence you to ENUCLEATION! Hahahaha!" the red skeleton cackles, as it plunges its skeletal finger into the human's eyesocket, eliciting a horrible scream.
You may intervene directly at this point, or go back and report these events to the group.
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The other four skeletons are exploding skeletons who explode for 1d6 when they are destroyed.
You have a lot of information to bring back to the others now.
:)
Polux heads back to meet up with the others, and he has a lot to tell - "The place is strewn with corpses outside, all of them with one eye removed" - he begins - "Much like justice was met out in Wati centuries ago, which actually makes some sense, because inside the Precinct..." - he pauses for a moment to look back.
"Well, inside I found some mockery of a tribunal. Made up by five skeletons. Yes, more undead... The one leading them, and doling out the sentences is some sort of haphazard mix between a Bloody Skeleton, and a Dread Skeleton" - he allows the notion to sink in - "Nasty bastards those are. We need to be ready for a tough fight. Not only that, I don't remember where but I read about the other skeletons also - they explode once the undeath link is severed..."
“It sounds like a really nasty fight. Unfortunately I’ve used most of my spells for the day.”
Looking at the others, she asks “Are we really ready for this? Ra-Khefer also isn’t at his best.”
Turel replies grimly, "I fear many of us will be in such a state Kito, if not already so. Still that man needs our help and this skeleton leader must not be allowed to send his minions out to wreak more havoc on Wati!"
"Right there with you Kito." Holding out the wand she bought, "Anyone interested?"
[ooc]Protection from Evil Bonus on saves and AC for anyone interested. Deseri will activate Spirit shield for a +4 to ac and use Ancestral Weapon to get a longspear for distance.