Indeed, after zeroing in on the spiral pattern it takes Amenhep and Soumral (and anyone else that helps) only a bit less than thirty minutes to go over it inch by inch. Their supreme effort is rewarded, as the two of them take note of a seam - circular in appearance, in the very center of the spiral. It's roughly ten feet in diameter and looks something like a featureless 'plug' in the floor - blending into the stone and the pattern so well it is nearly invisible to the eye. Or nearly so, at any rate. Their keen eyes and painstaking effort to find any such anomalies would not be defeated by the near-genius craftsmanship of the stonemason that built the secret door.
However, there doesn't appear to be a way to open it - at least not that they can see on the floor nearby. No handle, no hidden buttons or the like are in evidence, at least.
Knowing time is limited and the first compass might stop working soon, Elliander starts getting frustrated. ”Look, we don’t even know what we are looking for, right? What if the source of that pulse was stored here under the tarp and has now been moved?”
He hadn’t got much of an answer last time he asked Soumral, but he tries again anyway:”Soumral, whatever ritual you did yesterday, could you do it again? Are we looking in the right place?”
Having let out some frustration, Elliander calms down a little, hoping he would at least have caught a trace of lingering magical aura if anything powerful had been stored here less than half a day ago.
|
"Lets see, 'All who live must pass through the doorway of death to face her judgment.' That would be Pharasma Judgement, or maybe Maats. Maybe its as simple as prying to her, while standing on the spot?"
Rediz steps over onto that circle where the door is likely to be and pray to all three gods mentioned in the inscriptions.
Soumral knows that the ritual could be performed again to confirm the continued presence of the necromantic ka pulse, though it will take a short time to perform.
Standing in the center of the spiral pattern, on top of the sealed secret door (or trapdoor, as it's set in the floor), Rediz begins to pray to the three gods...
Francis moves up by Rediz. With the portal identified they still need to figure out how to open it. "Maybe the phrase given is a prayer to Maat, not Pharasma. Do you speak Ancient Osirian? It probably has to be in that language."
"Well Elliander, I probably could redo things if it came to no other option. But that's extra delay and extra lost lives."
Soumral smacks herself on the forehead.
"Of course! I'm such an idiot! I speak Ancient Osiriani. Tell me what to say and I'll say it. Is it the phrase 'All who live must pass through the doorway of death to face her judgment'?"
Soumral takes a few moments to ensure her translated version will be as spoken at the time rather than merely literal and gives it a go.
"Dhammaan kuwa nool waa inay ka gudbaan albaabka dhimashada si ay u wajahaan xukunkeeda."
Fireday, the 30th day of Gozran, 4714 AR
Weather is clear and fairly hot by mid-afternoon.
One hour after sunrise.
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As the phrase is spoken aloud, there is a sudden sound of stone grating against stone and the ‘plug’ in the floor shifts, sliding back partly to reveal a spiral staircase leading down into darkness…
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PC Health & Notes
Soumral 45/45
Francis 47/47
Elliander 57/57 [Armor Crystal - DR 1, has absorbed 0 (of 10) damage this day]
Amenhep 51/51
Rediz 35/35
Rediz finds no traps on the stairs...
Amenhep smiles widely, ” The ancients were clever, weren’t they? Let us venture into the dark, and fill it with holy light.”
Soumral lets a low whistle escape as the ancient stairway is revealed by the opening stone cover.
"Better adjust your packages now if you need to boys. I have a feeling this is about to get really crazy."
Soumral takes her usual place next to last.
Fireday, the 30th day of Gozran, 4714 AR
Weather is clear and fairly hot by mid-afternoon.
An hour and a half after sunrise.
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Francis illuminates Amenhep’s speartip with divine magic, and the paladin follows Rediz and then Elliander, with Soumral and finally Francis in the rear of the formation. The spiraling stairway descends into a large, vaulted chamber. Looming jackal-headed statuary, decorative floor tiles, oversized pillars, and a long reflecting pool lend a grandiose scale to the room.
The sepulcher’s entryway inspires a sense of awe, invoking the sacred halls of judgment all mortal beings shuffle towards in the afterlife. Hieroglyphs cover the walls, the Ancient Osiriani language depicting the Shepses family’s history and outlining the life of Nefru Shepses - his divine inspiration to join Pharasma’s faith, the creation of the necropolis, and his restoration of the great city of Wati. The party, being well-versed in the pantheon of Osirion, recognize the great statues as depicting Anubis, protector of tombs and the souls of the dead as they journey through the afterlife to receive Pharasma’s judgement in the Boneyard.
Four large stone doors are set into the far wall, the long reflecting pool is set in the center of the chamber, the low stone lip of the basin rising up six inches above the floor and the water clear enough to see the sandy bottom some three feet beneath the surface.
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PC Health & Notes
Soumral 45/45
Francis 47/47
Elliander 57/57 [Armor Crystal - DR 1, has absorbed 0 (of 10) damage this day]
Amenhep 51/51
Rediz 35/35
Satisfied they are making some progress again, Elliander joins the rest moving down the spiral stair. He calls up three small globes of light to circle the room to get a view. The statues look a bit menacing in the dark. They’re here to search for some kind of magical object though, and the sooner they find it, the better. He let’s the Dancing Lights hover on the other side of the pool, checking the dark corners and the doors on the other side of the room. He takes a few steps into the room, close to the pool rather than the statues, and then cast Detect Magic again to scan the room.
Elliander immediately notes a magical aura in the room, and it is coming from the pool. After a few moments of focus, he realizes it's not the water or the pool itself, but rather something that must be buried in the sandy floor of the basin.
Soumral starts up her own cantrip to detect any magical auras in the chamber.
"Francis, if you work down the left side I'll take the right."
She's actually trouble by the condition of the room.
"This place isn't looking shabby enough to have been sitting empty for a few thousand years. Water in the pool, no dust, real shiny. Be extra cautious about touching stuff or picking things up, security might be tighter if this place is in use."
The aura is one of moderate conjuration.
Francis follows the group into the large room, trying to keep a focus on any dangers here. Initially he has to pause in the doorway as the details of the room become apparent. Seeing the hieroglyphs on the wall he decides that he needs to learn the language when he gets an opportunity....
Hearing direction from Soumral he nods and moves to the left.
Elliander has to agree to what Soumral is saying about the subterranean room. It does not feel like it’s been closed for a long time, but rather kept tidy.
He detects something in the pool beside him.
Could it be that they are so lucky, the thing they are looking for is right here?
He remembers the wizard’s warning though, and first studies the water to see if he can see the bottom. Elliander then carefully probes the sand with one of his javelins, but also pulls it up to smell the liquid to make sure it’s not poisonous.
If he can feel something with the tip of the javelin, he’ll try to pick it up using a second javelin. If that fails, but he thinks the water is safe and not that deep, he sticks his arm down into the pool where the aura is coming from.
Elliander prods the bottom of the pool and finds the sand to be a rather thin layer before the tip of the weapon encounters the hard stone floor of the basin. It doesn't take much effort to snag the origin of the magical aura - or rather, the origins.
The magical set of bracers are readily identified as granting their wearer some amount of magical protection from attacks (Bracers of Armor +2).
Once Elliander has retrieved the bracers, Soumral checks them to see if they track with the conjuration aura she detected.
Soumral takes a look at the magical bracers and finds them to be the source of the magic she too had detected. How they wound up in the shallow layer of sand at the bottom of the pool is anyone's guess...
There doesn't seem to be much else in this admittedly magnificently decorated room. The statues of Anubis stand like sentinels, which indeed they are, seeming to glare down at the party as they trespass in this sacred tomb - though their reasons for doing so are pure and good.
The four stone doors at the far side of the room stand closed, though they don't appear to be locked.
Amenhep nods, muttering a prayer to Anubis under his breath as he readies his spear for whatever might lurk in the next room.
The stone door seems quite thick, Rediz can hear nothing on the other side - though even if there were a pitched battle going on he's not sure he'd detect even that...
With Soumral’s help, Elliander can identify what he found in the pool. Two good magical bracers.
He looks at the wizard. ”Can you use these to improve your protection?” he asks.
Unless she, or someone else in the team thinks the bracers can be useful on, Elliander will put the bracers in his backpack.
Soumral shakes her her negatively.
"My spell is better, and they won't work in combination with it. They should bring a nice price though."
Elliander moves on to the door Rediz is examining. He notices again there are more than one door and wonders if they lead to separate rooms or one big one. ”If there is a nasty surprise behind this door, then maybe stay at the doorway and fight after opening it? I just hope we don’t get anyone attacking our back from the other doors.
Considering this might be the source of the ka pulse raising dead, finding undead around here wouldn’t surprise him. Elliander loads his crossbow and stand ready to fire through the doorway if Rediz opens the door.
Seeing Elliander getting ready by the door Francis moves up behind the fighter to support any melee that they may face.
Soumral stays back to give the weapons wielders room to do their thing and readies her wand of Disrupt Undead.
Fireday, the 30th day of Gozran, 4714 AR
Weather is clear and fairly hot by mid-afternoon.
An hour and a half after sunrise.
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With the others standing ready, Rediz eases open the right-most middle door, revealing the room beyond. The arched ceiling of the chamber rises high, even beyond the light shed by Amenhep’s spear. Soumral can just barely see the apex some sixty feet up. There seem to be hundreds of alcoves built into the walls, only half-concealed behind neglected silk curtains of blue and gold that have nearly rotted away over the centuries. An altar is set in the middle of the room, its surface caked in gruesome stains. Decorative tiles depicting a bird’s head flank the altar, and are similarly desecrated. There is a heavy scent of camphor and pitch hanging in the air, and the chamber has an oppressive atmosphere that is palpable.
All these details are taken in along with a more immediate and alarming realization, More than two score of bodies are chained to the walls in makeshift manacles, but they are not unmoving – not at all. They thrash and squirm against their bindings, moaning in agony and fury at their undead state. At least a dozen zombies roam freely, apparently having broken loose from their fastenings. As the door opens, their eyes blaze with hatred at the appearance of the living and they lunge toward the party, intent on tearing into their bodies with tooth and claw!
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Initiative Combat & Notes – Round 1
Elliander 57/57 [Armor Crystal - DR 1, has absorbed 0 (of 10) damage this day]
Soumral 45/45
Rediz 35/35
Francis 47/47
Amenhep 51/51
Zombies
Soumral raises her wand and uses the command word to shoot a pulse of white energy at the nearest zombie.
"They are slow and mindless. Use the doorway to force them to come for us a couple at a time. Do not enter the room! We can use their slowness to our advantage if we need to, attack, back away and force it to come to you, repeat the cycle. But first we should keep them bottled in the other room if possible."
Elliander is just beside Rediz and lets some arrows fly immediately as he spots the zombies.
Elliander was already aiming and ready to shoot through the door. Wouldn’t that give him a surprise round?
Firing at zombie marked with arrow.
Composite (+3 STR) Shortbow (M): with Arcane Strike
Round 1:
Full Attack, 2 arrows
Composite (+3 STR) Shortbow (M): with Arcane Strike
Composite (+3 STR) Shortbow (M): with Arcane Strike
Looks like the two first shots would hit whether surprise or not.
Amenhep nods at Soumral and readies his spear for the approaching horde.
Oops, sorry I did mean to direct that to Elliander, as our duskblade has surmised! :) Your action is fine, Amenhep.
I'm waiting for Francis before posting the round - as a cleric can do a LOT against the undead!
Seeing the obvious enemy ahead, Francis activates a charge from his Wand of Blessing, then stows it in favor of his dagger. He feels certain that the fighters in the front line can handle simple zombies if they can be channeled through the doorway to slow them down.
"I can channel holy energy to harm them, but it won't reach all of them from here. I'd rather wait until they cluster at the door. Does anyone see anyone or anything controlling them? I don't understand why mindless undead didn't leave here and wander the streets."
Soumral points out "well the door was closed. Since they have no native intelligence of their own, that's a huge barrier to leaving."
Fireday, the 30th day of Gozran, 4714 AR
Weather is clear and fairly hot by mid-afternoon.
An hour and a half after sunrise.
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The party reacts to the presence of the shambling, undead zombies with instant violence. Elliander snaps off a couple of arrows, both of them striking true (4 HP vs Red) – though the projectiles don’t appear to cause as much harm as the duskblade might expect. Soumral uses her wand, the energy beam winging the zombie in front of her (2 HP vs Orange) as she calls out to her allies. The wizard knows that zombies are tough to bring down, though edged weapons are effective. Rediz hurls a bomb into the horde, the alkahest burning into the zombie that took the direct hit, while two others are splashed badly by the corrosive stuff. Francis holds off on using his divine magic until the undead are more bunched together. Amenhep sets his spear, certain that the zombies will move in mindlessly and impale themselves on the weapon.
One of the zombies injured by the bomb obliges the paladin, driving itself onto the point of the spear (15 damage), and Amenhep deftly twists the weapon, spilling the motionless zombie to the floor. But now the others shamble forward as well, two of them striking at the paladin and one connects hard (9 damage), while another lunges past Amenhep toward Francis, though the cleric’s armor protects him. The others are bunched up behind those at the doors, unable to reach the party.
vs DC 18 = Failure!
vs DC 18 = Failure!
vs Amenhep’s AC = Hit!
vs Amenhep’s AC = Miss!
vs Francis’ AC = Miss!
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Combat Initiative & Notes – Round 2
Francis 47/47
Elliander 57/57 [Armor Crystal - DR 1, has absorbed 0 (of 10) damage this day]
Soumral 45/45
Rediz 35/35
Amenhep 42/51
Zombies Yellow (-12 HP +1d8/round), Red (-4 HP), Orange (-2 HP)
Seeing the zombie crowd to the door Francis sheathes his blade and holds the swirl or Pharasma forward. "Pharasma, Let your power surge through me here to end this abomination to your principles!"