Mummy's Mask: The Sand Scarabs-Gameplay Thread (Inactive)

Game Master R0B0GEISHA

Merutep follows Marius into the secret chamber and waits for him to ensure it's safe to proceed down the stairs. Aya sits perched calmly on her shoulder.

"Stairs, then? Okay. Where do you want me in the descent queue?"

"I hope this is the end of the last of our travails, I would really like to get our reward for all this dificulty."

"Should we check the east doors before heading down the stairs?"

"Leave the locked doors or the open stairs behind us? I vote for leaving the locked doors to our rear."

Actually, nobody's ever checked to see if those doors are locked.

"We can always come back," Merutep replies with a smile, clearly excited to keep moving on.

I'm vote the stairs first! But, I'lll still wait for Marius to say its safe before following him. Haha.

Perception check (Archaeologist's luck): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 5 + 2 = 8

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Marius proceeds to the end of the hall and sends the glowing spheres of his dancing lights spell to the flight of stairs.

Marius' lights illuminate the stairs which end at yet another set of double doors.

Caius follows behind Marius staying alert.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

"Yeah I'm for checking this out and then coming back to the other doors." he says to the group.

"Sounds good to me, shields to the front aye lads."

"That is the commonly accepted method." Meriui chuckles as he replies to the good doctor.

Marius moves cautiously down the stairs and checks the double doors for traps before checking to see if they are unlocked.
Perception check (archaeologist's luck): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 5 + 2 = 26

Marius' thorough search of the doors doesn't reveal any traps and the doors open with a push to reveal a room containing several dust covered boxes, chests, and urns.

Merutep follows Marius forward with a smile. Although she's trying to maintain a calm, level-head, Merutep is clearly super thrilled to be here and is bursting with excitement.

She looks around the dusty room with interest.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Aya looks around the room with interest from her perch on Merutep's shoulder, more cautious and alert than her 'mistress.'

Perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 33

Rashim follows Marius and Merutep down the stairs, keeping an eye out for traps along the way.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

"Now this is more like it. Pay day is finally here." Hibbins walks in to the room and starts looking around at the their payoff. "Wait a tick, where is the sarcophagus?"

Percetion: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24 Extra +1 if traps for a 25.

Dr. Hibbins exploration of the room turns up a secret door located in the eastern wall. Further examination reveals a rune of an insect carved into the stone of the doors. Touching or opening the doors would release whatever spell the rune is holding.

The shield follows down the stairs and takes a position in the room below, dragging Meriui along behind it.

Finding nothing, Merutep looks at her companions. "Find anything interesting?"

Nothing in any of the dusty chests, urns or boxes?

"Secret door with a magical trap carved in to it. I'm going to assume these are grave goods, which means behind that door is the burial chamber we seek."

"Fascinating! Can you open it?" she asks curiously.

Merutep begins opening the chests and boxes, none of which are locked or trapped assuming Ankhepti's spirit would want access to these item in the afterlife.
Most of the chests contain clothing and foodstuffs that have not withstood the test of time but amongst the items she finds two vials of a metallic silver liquid, a finely crafted longbow, 10 cold iron arrows, a gold scarab shaped clasp, an onyx and ivory holy symbol of Pharasma, a silvered hand mirror, and a wax sealed urn of nard.

"Wow, look at this stuff!" Merutep remarks excitedly.

Holding up the silver liquid she passes it to Dr. Hibbins. "Do you have any idea what this is?"

She holds up the fine longbow and arrows. "Does anyone want a beautiful bow? Marius?"

Then she examines the holy symbol, scarab clasp, hand mirror and nard. "Beautiful craftsmanship."

Can anyone tell if these are magical? Merutep has no idea if any of it is valuable or magical. But it's old! And she likes it! Haha.

Rashim's eyes are drawn to the gold scarab clasp. Related to Khepri? Probably not, everything is a scarab around here... "Yes, beautiful, and particularly fitting for a group called the Sand Scarabs!" He laughs a little, then turns his attention to the door. He examines the door more closely.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

If just the one trap presents itself, and it is able to be disabled, I'll take a crack at disabling it. Note that one of my traits allows me to disable magic traps.

If no other threats present themselves, Rashim will begin to go to work on the rune, attempting to carefully disrupt the magic in the rune without discharging it.
Disable Device: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

"Very nice looking pieces. I doubt the bow will be very useful inside the tombs. Maybe I'm wrong."

Marius cast a detect magic and scans the items they've found. If any of them detect as magic he will do a spellcraft roll to identify.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 6 + 2 = 19

Caius looks intrigued at the treasure trove they have found. "Wonderful. These look great, even if they are not magical, perhaps they will fetch a fine price in the antiquities market."

He takes a closer look at the objects found.

Appraise: Longbow: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
Appraise: Scarab: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20
Appraise: Holy Symbol: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
Appraise: Hand Mirror: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
Appraise: Urn: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Marius' eyes glow blue as he examines the items found in the chests. Looking them over only the two vials of silver liquid detect as magic. Examining them closer he determines that they have a a faint aura of transmutation magic but he can't seem to glean anymore information about them.

Caius looks the other grave goods over with a shrewd eye. The longbow is definitely masterwork quality and would probably fetch about 375 gold pieces on the open market. The golden scarab would bring in around another 75 gold. The urn of nard is similar to the one you found earlier and would be worth about 100 gold pieces. The silvered hand mirror and the Pharasmin holy symbol are unknown quantities but he's sure the temple in the city would pay top coin for the latter.

Rashim pokes and prods the sigil on the doorway with his tools. After some time he takes a step back and wipes his brow, determining that the doors are no longer trapped. Stepping up, he opens the doors to reveal a long corridor ending in a single stone door.
Pay no attention to the blue squares on the map, they're not there.

Merutep pins the scarab brooch to her dress and places the mirror and nard in her backpack. If no one worships Pharasma she also places the holy symbol in her backpack. She leaves the bow and arrows out for someone else to carry.

Then she stands up and peeks down the corridor.

"Is it safe?" she asks Rashim.

Perception down the hall: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 4 + 2 = 17

The man behind the shield moves towards the open door and looks through.

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 4

"Want me to go first?"

"Go right ahead my friend." Hibbins keeps a wary eye on the stone door at the end of the hallway. "One or two rooms left till we get to go home and celebrate."

Too excited to wait any longer, Merutep wanders off down the hall.

If Meriui's going first she follows him, otherwise she leads the way herself.

Aya shakes her feathered head at Merutep's foolishness. She looks around warily, clearly nervous about hidden traps and curses, but doesn't leave her 'mistress' ' side.

Perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (16) + 14 = 30

With Meriui in the lead, Marius will follow behind Merutep, hoping the the man's shield will protect them all in case something bad should happen. Once they reach the door Marius will kneel down to examine it for traps before trying to open it.
Perception (archaeologist's luck): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 2 = 23

Meriui heads down the hall, his massive shield at the ready in case something should happen, when....nothing happens. Followed closely by Merutep and her companion, then by Marius the trio now stand in front of the stone door. Marius examines the door which he declares free of traps before he opens them.
The unlocked door open with a touch to reveal a 15' x 20' room in the center of which rest a sarcophagus, covered in gold leaf, the lid of which is carved in the likeness of an adult man with his arms crossed across his chest. Two ornate chest sit in the northeast and southeast corners of the room while a pair of bronze urns stand between them. Everything in the room is covered in thick layer of dust, as if undisturbed for centuries.

Merutep wanders into the room and pauses in reverence.

"It's beautiful," she breathes.

She reaches out to touch the sarcophagus, then stops.

Perception (looking but not touching) the sarcophagus: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 2 = 9

"Do you think it's safe?" she asks Marius, remembering the last one...

Taking a step back from the sarcophagus, Merutep instead moves deeper into the room to examine the chest and urns in the south corner of the room.

Literally examining them. She picks up the urns, peers inside them, opens the chest, and so on. Caution be damned! Haha.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 4 + 2 = 24

Aya's fine feathers raise in warning as Merutep approaches the sarcophagus. She squawks loudly, causing Merutep to pause.

Clearly relieved that Merutep's leaving the sarcophagus to someone else, Aya barely has time to look around before Merutep starts recklessly opening chests and peering into pottery.

The exasperated bird shakes its head, as if Merutep were a foolish child, then does her best to help Merutep examine the relics.

Perception on the stuff in the corner: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (15) + 14 = 29

"Since there were no traps leading in here, there should be some in here, right? Somewhere?" He keeps his head on a swivel, worried that this was far too easy . . ..

"Considering it is his chamber, I am going to guess there is a guard and not traps. Hopefully long dead, unless it is of the undead or construct nature... I'm guessing construct considering the nature of the guards so far, but I am not ruling out the buried coming back to guard his own tomb."

Caius moves into the chamber following behind Marius. He stands in the corner and keeps an eye out for trouble, while his companions search the room.

"Let's just hope it's just a payday. I'm itching to finish clearing this tomb out, head back to the city and divide our profits."

He then relaxes a slightly as he leans on the wall. "Hopefully we can get another interesting tomb after this one."

"Oh, that would be exciting," Merutep replies. "But, we'd best focus on the tomb at hand first."

Rashim comes down the hall to join the conga line outside the door.

1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20

Aya: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (2) + 14 = 16
Caius: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Marius: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8
Merutep: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

1-Marius, 2-Merutep: 1d2 ⇒ 2

With all eyes on the treasures in this room no one notices the creature as it slithers from the shadows behind the dais until Merutep feels a sharp pain in her thigh as it sinks it's fangs into her flesh. Looking down she sees a snake, but not an ordinary snake. This one is made of metal.

Attack roll (bite): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
Attack roll (bite): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2+poison
Merutep, I need a DC:11 Fortitude save from you, otherwise take 1d2 ⇒ 2 points of Constitution damage.

Initiative:
Caius: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16
Dr. Hibbins: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
Marius: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Meriui: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14
Merutep: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
Rashim: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23
Snake: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

First up is Group A (Caius, Hibbins, Marius, Rashim), followed by the creature, and then Group B (Meriui, and Merutep)

Merutep let's out a sharp yelp as the metal snake bites her in the thigh.

Fortitude: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5 Failing. Taking 2 CON damage.

Aya cries loudly and flaps her wings, drawing attention to her wounded charge...

Sorry guys, got slammed at work last week AND over the weekend, barely had time to think. Should be back to good now.

Hearing Merutep yelp, Rashim moves quickly into the room, pushing past the others. Seeing the metal snake, he slides back into a far corner, and causes a nearby stone to levitate up. He lines up an opening, and the stone streaks through the air.

Attack, PBS: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 4 + 1 = 19
Damage, PBS, bludgeoning: 1d6 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 1 = 6

Marius calls upon the luck of his ancestor's as he draws his sword. With a quick slash he strikes at the creature.
Attack roll (archaeologist's luck): 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 + 2 = 20
Damage (archaeologist's luck): 1d8 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 + 2 = 12

Trying to hit the back wall so the splash hits the critter: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Damage is 6 to the snake.

"I have enough for one more and then I am out."

For out of character and other non-game related posts.

Akhentepi's Tomb (upper level)
There's also a link to the current map under the Campaign Info tab

I've placed everyone on the map, which is quite a bit smaller, according to what they had posted in the other thread. If you're unhappy about your placement, feel free to move your token to where you want to be.

Hey-o. Thanks for picking this up!

Agreed, thanks.

Thanks GM Wulfson!

I'm glad we can continue this I was liking our party alot.

Getting the gang back together.

Hey guys - it's great to see us all back together again! Thanks GM for picking this up.

Now, where's all that lovely treasure we were just about to find? Easy in, easy out, right?

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After you join the game on Roll20 can you please tell me who your character is so I can set token permissions. So far I need the information from Tim F and Zachary W.
Thanks.

Kyrus = Tim F

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For those of you who may not have caught it, the Gameplay thread is now up and running.

I am Dustin W.

Akbari = Alan A.

I'm Zachary W.

Michel

Anyone else trying to access the roll20 site on a mobile? I'm struggling a little here.

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I've only used it on computer. Never tried with a mobile device.

Likewise. I've heard it's not very mobile friendly. I can choose another virtual tabletop if you like.

Likewise. I've heard it's not very mobile friendly. I can choose another virtual tabletop if you like.

No need - I normally use the Wayfinder app plus Google Maps, but Roll20 works for me too. Just means I'll be posting from home at the end of the day if I need to refer to the map.

Given the slap-dash way of recruitment our illustrious former GM never went over any of our characters to make sure they were legal. I've taken some time to back over everyone's characters and have found some discrepancies among them. I'll be sending out PM's to those who have errors in their character builds in the next day or so, so be on the lookout for them.

I'll pass on the alchemist's fire - my blast can damage swarms like normal, so I don't need it as much as others.

Hey guys

Just for reference, here is the standard marching order we agreed when we started the game back with the old GM.

GM Wulfson, do you want to post this to the campaign tab for reference?

Marching order:

- Front rank: Caius and Akbari
- Second rank Hibbins and Kyrus.
- Rearguard: Marius and Rashim.

Scouting ahead: Rashim.

Looks good, as long as I am safely surrounded by bodies to throw at problems.

The marching order is fine with me.

My only question is how is Rashim both scouting ahead and in the rearguard?

I took that as I am scouting if scouting makes sense, otherwise I'm rearguard

Fine by me.

Actually for Perception it's been clarified as a 10 ft by 10 ft area, unless it's particularly cluttered.

It's not limited to a single 5ft square that was how Search worked in 3.5 but Perception doesn't have that wording.

Perception FAQ

So between that area and the rule in Perception for modifiers, wouldn't the DC of what I'm looking for just increase by +1 for every 10 feet of distance?

So if the hallway is 40 feet and my Perception is 27 by taking 20 wouldn't it just be base DC for the first 10 ft area, then +1 DC for every 10 ft past that?

I really don't want to blow this up into a rules debate here, but the whole 'take20' thing on trap detection doesnt make sense to me. Take 20 implies repeated error until you succeed. For some traps, that might be ok; others, it could be fatal.

In lieu of a definative rule from Paizo, taking 20 on trap detection is open to GM interpretation. And I'm OK with that.

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Actually it's not applicable for trap detecting anyway:

When you have plenty of time, you are faced with no threats or distractions, and the skill being attempted carries no penalties for failure, you can take 20.

There is absolutely chance of penalty for a failed check.

But it's the GM's call so I'm not going to argue about it.

Taking 20 is absolutely usable with Perception on traps.

"Common "take 20" skills include Disable Device (when used to open locks), Escape Artist, and Perception (when attempting to find traps)."

It's even in the description for Taking 20.

I don't have a problem with 'Taking 20' to find traps, I've done it in my own games, however you cannot take 20 to disarm said trap. The act of searching for a trap doesn't set it off, the worst that can happen is you don't find it before "BOOM".
Also don't forget that, since there are six of us playing, I'm adjusting Challenge Ratings, DC's, Hit Points, and number of creatures to compensate.
Don't worry, I'm also jacking the treasure by 50% as well.

How about we assume the following, as our standing orders for trap detection:
- doors, choke points, chests, etc if we're not in a hurry: best PC takes 20
- all other occasions: best PC takes 10

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I assumed you were going to be doing that GM Wulfson since we have more than normal for the adventure path. :)

Also I'm fine with that for trap detection.

I was only searching around myself so much since no one else was taking their time. (Taking 20)

Who is the best at perception and disabling things? My perception is +5 (no bonus for looking for traps :( ), and my disable device is +9.

Once we hit level 2, my ability to disable traps and such at a distance telekinetically comes online, which makes it a lot safer for me to try to disable things.

Okay, before we go any further I need to know where everyone is in relation to Rashim while he disables this trap and please place yourself on the map appropriately.

This makes me 17 layers of nervous... I've placed myself on the map next to the trap.

GM Wulfson wrote:

Okay, before we go any further I need to know where everyone is in relation to Rashim while he disables this trap and please place yourself on the map appropriately.

This makes me 17 layers of nervous... I've placed myself on the map next to the trap.

Good luck!

I'm also placed.

What, you don't want to be standing next to me? I see how it is. Man, guy plays around with one severed head, suddenly he's a pariah.

This is where you find out who your friends really are.

WOW. That map is huge and so much black I thought it wasn't loading until I accidentally scrolled to the side LOL. Okay, I am placed on the map, but you've already moved on so meh.

Waiting for the others to respond. Tonight's my RL game, so if I don't hear from them by tomorrow I'll go ahead and continue then.

Not sure who we are waiting on, but I am all for moving on. I wont be near my comp to interact with the map until I get home from work in 9 hours or so.

Likewise

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Regarding traps. The Disable Device skill says that you can retry disabling a trap, whereas d20 PFSRD says you have to be aware that you've failed

Try Again: Varies. You can retry checks made to disable traps if you miss the check by 4 or less. You can retry checks made to open locks.

Retry? You can retry checks made to disable traps if you miss the check by 4 or less, though you must be aware that you fail in order to try again.

So that left the question "How do you determine if you've disabled a trap, if you failed by 4 or less, without actually setting it off?". Part of the delay this weekend was due to me doing research online and failing to find a definitive answer. So I decided that if someone succeeded on a Perception check, against the traps Perception DC, that they could find some flaw or something in the attempt What Marius tried to do, but failed. I was really hoping someone would've picked up on that.

So, anyway, you have an active trap between you and the next room. You believe that any further traffic on the pressure pad will release another volley of darts, and another, ...etc. What do you do? you could jump over the plate (a DC:5 Acrobatics check, with a running start) or attempt to permanently disarm it.

Oh wow. I was following that thread and didn't even realize it was you. :)

I think you handled it correctly. Since "When disarming a trap or other device, the Disable Device check is made secretly, so that you don't necessarily know whether you've succeeded."

So it's mostly on the players to test if the trap was correctly disabled.

On a side note i would take anything d20 PFSRD says with a grain of salt. They are usually wrong when it comes to Pathfinder stuff or strip away portions of it because Golarion stuff isn't open content.

Hey Kyrus, could you add the tapestry to the loot sheet?

I'm not sure on it's weight. But its worth 150 gold.

Regarding loot. I'm not as picky about encumbrance as our former GM but I do have to draw the line somewhere. Personal items carried on you will not count towards encumbrance, but carrying something oversized or exceptionally heavy will slow you down.

Looking at the map, the tapestry looks to be almost 10' across and should be at least that tall so I'm going to have to say it got to weigh almost 100 pounds or so. Lugging it around with you will definitely slow anyone down. You could just leave it where it is and take it with you when you go.

Okay fair enough.

What do you mean by personal items? I just want to make sure i understand properly.

Gear, armor, weapons, coins, gems, small objects d' arte, etc...if it can fit in a pouch or a backpack. As long as you're not trying to run while carrying an anvil should you'd be okay.

Dammit - I liked my anvil. Dropping it now.

I will add the tapestry to the loot list, with location = this room. That way if we don't come back this way or whatever, we lose it.

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Hey GM, when you quote a gp value, is that the value we could sellit for, or its true value? I believe we can normally sell stuff to a market at 50%, right?

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60% if they are artefacts of ancient culture since you have me and Caius along.