Mummy's Mask

Game Master Samy

Kito casts the message spell.

As Harmose goes in, she frowns slightly in consternation. Looking towards the building, after a short time she tells the others "I think he may have found the guards. Be ready!"

Polux has to control himself just to keep from bursting into laughter.

Shaking her head while listening. I'll argue that Qari gets first hit.

Qari didn’t realize exactly what was happening as Harmose sprang into action. She let him. Lead her and the next thing she knew she was wet and being yelled at by the ‘drunken’ Harmose! If it weren’t for the warning, her feelings might have indeed been hurt, but it was very clever, she thought. She kept quiet, waiting for the guards to decide a course of action before figuring a response.

Turel waits patiently as Harmose and Qari 'confront' the guards, readying his spear for what is coming. Harmose's antics draws a brief smile on his face as he reflects on what his brother will surely reap from both women later...

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Harmose's bluff is way too good for either of the guards to see through, and they accept the charade totally at face value, presuming that the intruders are just a couple of drunken revelers looking for a place to have a tryst. As such, they approach with nonlethal saps in hand, but lowered. "Citizens, this is private property, we must insist you depart right away!" "We don't want to be...forceful." The first statement was a bit more formal and diplomatic in tone, the second guard's words however veer into a slightly threatening tone. Good guard/bad guard?

Qari delays, waiting for Harmose to ‘do his rainbow thing’ before she shows her had and abilities to the guards.

"Private p-property?" Harmose slurs slightly, holding up a hand as if to steady himself.... And then mutters under his breath in Auran. "රේන්බෝ!"

Colorpray, DC 17 Will Save. If they fail, my illusion (pattern) spells treat observers as -5 HD lower than their actual HD.

Will DC 17: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10
Will DC 17: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

Both guards fail their Will saves, and are treated by Color Spray as 2HD or less, therefore:

Unconscious, blinded and stunned for 2d4 ⇒ (1, 1) = 2 rounds, then
Blinded and stunned for 1d4 ⇒ 4 rounds, then
Stunned for 1 round.

Total you have 7 rounds' worth of time to act. Should be enough for pretty much anything you want to do. Just go ahead and describe what you do to them.

Polux immediately moves in to remove valuables and weapons from the unconscious ones, then tying and gagging them up.

After he is finished he pulls them out of sight - "Done" - he nods - "They are ready for questions"

You can loot two potions of cure light wounds off them. Also silver chain bracelet worth 50gp (times two, each of them has one).

And two +1 leather armors if you're willing to strip them, but that might take a few minutes.

Other possessions they have are nonmagical and mundane and I'm not bothering with listing them.

”Harmose, that was amazing,” Qari hisses quietly to thengroup. ”Let’s get them
bound and out of the way!”

At hearing Harmose’s mention of rainbows, Kito tells the group “Time to go in!”

Having said that, she heads towards the entrance Harmose took in.

Turel brings up the rear, eyes watchful for trouble all around. As he passes Harmose he nods approvingly, "Well done my brother!"

Smiling at Harmose, "I wasn't sure if you could actually be an ass. That is a good skill."

"Deseri's right - you amaze me more and more with each passing day," Aleris agrees. "I don't think I could pretend to act like an ass, even for a good cause."

Once the two unconscious guards are bound and gagged, Aleris draws her bow and readies to follow the others inside. "We're off to a good start, but I bet there'll be more where that came from. Let's be careful."

Harmose breathes a sigh of relief that neither Qari nor Aleris are beating him for his posture of bigotry and sexism. "It's not so amazing. I've been to parties with drunken, privileged asses just like that all my life." He scowls at the memory, and then prestidigitates both himself and Qari clean. "There's no reason for us to keep stinking of booze, though. Should we question them, about what else to expect here? If we try to interrogate them, they might scream. That's what I would do in their place."

Leaning down over the two prisoners, Kito checks that they are both awake.

“I think we can convince them to be reasonable people.” she says, watching them. “Look at them Alexis and Turel, don’t they seem reasonable to you?”

Standing again, she says “I doubt they want the Cult of the Forgotten Pharaoh here any more than we do. There is no telling where we might have gotten information that just happens to hurt the Cult while leaving others” at which point she plays with one of the silver chains found on the guards “alone.”

Sense Motive w/Thera, Which one wants to help: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
The one on the left looks shifty to me — like he is plotting something. I’m inclined to question the one on the right.

Looking to Alexis and Turel, she asks “Which of the two seems most sensible?”

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Turel eyes both men closely, finally silently pointing out who he believes the most cooperative one would be.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24

"Very well" - Polux draws his morningstar and removes the gag from the one they ascertain to maybe be the more cooperative - "Start talking"

"If you think one or both of them might want to give us a hand then sure, let's have a chat," Aleris shrugs before turning to eye the two prisoners.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15

"Just do what we say and answer our questions and you'll both come through this just fine, alright? We're not in the business of hurting people that don't deserve it and we're not interested in throwing people who help us out under the carriage, either. What can you tell us about this Cult of the Forgotten Pharaoh?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

You wait for the two captured guards to be awake again. They are well securely bound, so they present no risk of violence.

You have good Sense Motive rolls, so after a brief chat you can ascertain that -- well, *both* of the guards are fairly equally willing to be cooperative. Neither of them exhibits any great loyalty to the man called Ekram Iffek, a newcomer and interloper who apparently now runs things in the Silver Chain. Neither guard, however, knows anything about any cult.

"We have no idea what you're talking about? What cult? I don't know what you've been drinking, we just sell stuff that we obtain from the Necropolis. We don't do any cult stuff. But I've had enough of this line of work anyway...I'm happy to tell you what you want to know if you promise to let me go!"

Auto-success on that Sense Motive check.

After listening to the two men for a few minutes, Aleris nods to her companions. "They're telling the truth - they don't know anything about what's going on, but that's not really surprising. Sounds like this Ekram guy is pretty good at being subtle."

Polux is still holding the morningstar, and waits for the group's decision - "If it was up to me, I would leave them tied up and gagged for now"

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Although she can’t seem to tell if they are lying or not, Kito is confident her friends will let her know of any tricks. She starts questioning them, probing for useful information.

“How many are in the gang?”

“Has anyone experienced a sudden elevation in status with Ekram becoming the leader?”

“Are there any areas that Ekram forbids you from entering?”

“Have you noticed anything unusual lately?”

“Anything significant happen last night?”

Oh and also, this is a pretty high DC but some of you are pretty optimized and might hit it.

As for Kito's questions.

"I guess there's a few dozen of us or so...twenty? Thirty?" The two guards look at each other as if trying to figure out the number. "Forty, maybe? Something like that." Anyway, not less than ten, and definitely not over a hundred.

"I guess...he's got some buddies he's closer to than others? But nobody really special comes to mind." There isn't any other named NPC in the organization under Ekram, just goons. ;)

"No...not really, no. We can go to every room."

"Well, there's been a TON OF UNDEAD WALKING AROUND." They look a little like, 'seriously, you're asking that?'

"Well there was this priest snooping around last night, we captured him. He should still be alive downstairs."

At that last part, the bird-like psychopomp Qasin starts to jump up and down excitedly on Deseri's shoulder, letting out happy chirps. "Must be...my master...Ptemenib! Must be! Still alive! Yay! Oh happy day!"

Kn: Local: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19

When they give her the look, she glares at them. “Since last night, we have had to destroy a mummy and several zombies and skeletons. I was hoping you might have a clue where that started!”

Untrained Intimidate: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (5) + 0 = 5

The cute little bird on her shoulder totally destroys the impact of her glare. Schoolchildren have appeared more threatening than she does.

When Qasin pipes up, she asks the two guards “Can you give us a better idea where downstairs he is being held?”

"The sump well room, last I saw. Bottom of one of those empty wells."

"Why'd you even capture him in the first place?" Aleris chimes in, curious. "Wouldn't you guys normally, uh...just beat the tar out of someone snooping around, like as a warning to others? Did this Ekram want something with him?"

"I guess we still might, I don't know. We're still deciding what to do with him I guess." They don't seem awful sure, and you definitely don't get the feeling that there's any sort of grand plan in place. At least as far as these two are aware of.

"Can you describe the path to reach the room, and also tell us of any traps or guards you are aware of?" Turel speaks up.

Polux waits for a few moments, then decides to stay on guard close by the door to F2, just in case.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17

"Through that door", the guy nods toward the door to F2, "Down the stairs, watch out for the pit trap and head left. I think there's about half a dozen guys down there now. Come on, can we go now?!" The guards are visibly getting a little anxious and want to be let go already.

Looking to the rest of the group, Kito suggests “They both cooperated. I would not object to letting them go.”

Looking back at the two guards, she adds “...but no more grave robbing!”

"Yeah, fair is fair," Aleris agrees. "Let's let them go."

But then the sylph smiles, a rather toothy and crazy-eyed smile. "But you heard the nice lady - no more grave robbing or other crimes...or we'll most likely meet again."

Intimidate: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 + 2 = 18

"Ok then" - Polux nods, and begins untying the men.

Planning on leaving them only the most basic of weapons (maybe a mace or dagger to each), and strip them of the rest, except their clothes and any personal belongings :D

You let the captives go and they scamper off hurriedly without offering any lip.

You are now alone in area F1. How do you proceed.

Polux returns to the door (to F2) and listens, then checks it for traps, and confirms if it may be locked or not.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30

There is no sound beyond the door. It is untrapped. It is locked, but you received the key to it from one of the captives who no longer has need of it. You may unlock the door at will.

Once Polux signals his readiness Turel moves up just behind him, spear at the ready and eyes alert for ambush.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26 [Trap Intuition +2/+4 if stone]

Polux cracks the door open to peer beyond, as Turel approaches.

F2. Office

The floorboards of this ramshackle, soot-stained office have been pried up and used to construct a crude stairway leading underground. The air is quite musty.

Although the stairs are sturdy, they creak alarmingly. Anyone descending them takes a –5 penalty on Stealth checks. There is no obvious way to avoid this.

Treasure: Just inside the door to the office sits the guards’ latest share from a job: three 10-pound kegs of saffron worth 150 gp each. Total 450gp worth of stuff.

Is it obvious that the stairs would do that?

How 'long' are the stairs Samy? Maybe Polux could risk an acrobatics jump? :D

You also have a line of sight downstairs through the stairs into F3. I have put a map in the Google Slides document that shows F3 as well. The link is at the top of this page in the header.

As soon as any of you puts a foot on them, it'll be obvious, but not before.

The stairs are 10' long, as shown on the map. I suppose they're jumpable with the appropriate DC...which, checking the PRD, appears to be only 10. So Acro DC 10 and you can bypass the stairs. Remember to account for any armor check penalty. I'm not softballing it since the DC is so low to start with. :)

It looks like a 10' leap down, but I'm not certain that would be silent. Polux might be better off creeping down the steps. Kito could most likely do the leap and be better off because of MAGIC! (and no training in stealth).

Kito casts a protective charm around herself before going into the next area.

It looks like she hasn't used her Mage Armor yet. Time to use it!

Actually this may be a good opportunity to send the familiars (Wenet and Thera) down the stairs to see if there are any surprises waiting for us.

EDIT: Actually Turel would have no problem descending because of his Slow Fall class ability.

As soon as someone puts a foot on the top stair, Aleris cringes at the creaking sound it makes. "Ugh...isn't there any way to dampen the noise?" she whispers as she peers down into the room below.
________

I guess Aleris could do some sort of running jump and use her Feather Fall SLA if need be? :3

Qari follows behind the others on the stairs, with no other way to ascend or descend. She shook her head at hearing the loud squeak.