Lecate senses that there is something not quite right, and one of the papers is not genuine (. With friendly talk, Nefti breaks down: "You know, we wanted to get money from the Aspis Consortium, so we forged one the papers to get a bonus. The buyer, you should know that Angvar Branmaz is an alias used by Grandmaster Torch."
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Lecate senses that there is something not quite right, and one of the papers is not genuine (. With friendly talk, Nefti breaks down: "You know, we wanted to get money from the Aspis Consortium, so we forged one the papers to get a bonus. The buyer, you should know that Angvar Branmaz is an alias used by Grandmaster Torch."
"Again, why are you coming to the Sanctum, then? You sold them already. Done deal, right? Why are you coming here?"
Nefti firsts prtotests, but hen sees he has no chance. Motaz recover the topaz sage jewel. And Motaz receives an empathic greeting.
He also finds important Aspis Consortium codes and ciphers that they have hidden among their gear. Kafar keeps his ciphers in the pocketed scarf that he wears around his waist like a sash. Nefti carries a slightly different set of ciphers in the false bottom of his scabbard
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"Sold it, did you?" Motaz hands the Topaz Jewel to Farg. "If this is anything like the Ruby Jewel, the spirit of the Topaz Sage is inside. Amenopheus will definitely be pleased!" Motaz turns back to Nefti.
"Look, you're infected with worms that are going to turn you into a void zombie. You're caught in the middle of the night in the middle of the desert. We have the Topaz. We can put the word out that you ratted out Torch. You won't live long after that. Why don't you just drop the charade and tell us why you are out here? Where are you going? Who are you meeting?"
"You help us, and we'll help you. 1) We'll let you live. We won't kill you outright, and we won't take your supplies and let the desert do it for us. 2) We'll do what we can to cure you of the parasites. 3) We'll make the Sapphire Sage honor our bargain with you when he shows up and throws a fit over the fact that you sold the Emerald to Torch. 4) We'll take you along with us to the Pillars of the Sun. We will manacle you, and we will boast about how we trounced you. We won't let your partners know that you talked. 5) We'll protect you from any other nasties like the behir back there on the way to the Pillars and on the way back to Eto. 6) If the Sapphire Sage teleports us back to Eto, we'll ask him to teleport you, too, rather than making you hoof it."
"In exchange, tell us what's going on. If you don't we have what we need, and you are just a liability. We'll knock you unconscious, take your equipment, and let the desert take care of you. This is your last chance. Then we will wake up Kafar and offer him the deal you rejected."
"Gods, you are Aspis Consortium, not fanatic cultists. I thought you people were in it for money, knowledge, and power. Would you really rather be hyena food than talk. Out with it. Tell us about the Jewels. Tell us about the Diamond Sage. Tell us about the Bell of Obedience. Tell us what you're doing out here. Tell us what the Aspis Consortium's involvement in all of this is. And tell us anything you may know about Torch's interest in the Emerald. We haven't got all night."
He sighs deeply, "as we told you, we had two jewels, but were only hired to deliver one jewel. We found both sage jewels in a ruined fortress in the Sahure Wastes before then heading toward the long-forgotten headquarters of the Jeweled Sages in the Pillars of the Sun. Grandmaster Torch bought one of the jewels. And now we are en route to the Sanctum of the Sages, where we are supposed to meet our employer, a woman called Tahonikepsu. So we can take you there. For the bell of obedience, we need to contact our Aspsi broker first, we only have the connections to trace it."
As Motaz performs the ritual 3 uses of mythic power are restored upon him.
"If you heal us, I will lead you there."
"Should they not be punished for thievery?" asks Husarq, fingering the edge of al-Saif. "I believe the royal justice is usually a knuckle from each finger."
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"Be silent, oaf! They are but artifact recovery specialists hired by our opponents. Shall we cut the fingers from every single person in Osirion working to recover its past?" says Mareq, aware that Husarq's suggestion indicates a dire loosening of his magical bonds. If he can think that of Aspis agents, how long until he can think it of me?
Mareq considers carefully if he needs to send Husarq back into his lamp and reset his bonds of imprisonment and servitude.
He is becoming too independent.
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He clicks rapidly and loudly. His pincers snapping quickly in excitement to the prospect
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Nefti and Kafar lead you to a wall, telling you, it is an illusion, and with their help you can see through it.
Behind the seamless illusion of a rock wall lies the mountain pass to the Sanctum of the Sages. Beautifully engraved columns support the ornate entablature topped by a wide tapered cornice. The style hearkens back to
Osirion’s golden age, and the impeccable design and craftsmanship lives up to the standards set by the ancient dynasties. A short flight of
stairs ascends to stone door in the mountain.
At this moment Amenopheus up with you. "How have you fared?" he asks. The Sapphire Sage seems exhausted, and although any wounds he may
have sustained have been healed, his clothing is scorched and torn. He deigns not to go into details about his recent travels, but he notes with grim satisfaction that the Pillars of the Sun are now a safer place.
"But this place will hold many dangers, and not all of you are equipped to handle them. Let me bestow some of my powers upon you, who have not received them yet." With this he bestows mystic powers on Suketh, Srket, Farg and Elliott.
All who performed the ritual have the feeling that you have attracted the notice of something beyond the stars. Cthulhu fhtagn!
Beautifully engraved columns support the ornate entablature topped by a wide tapered cornice. The style hearkens back to Osirion’s golden age, and the impeccable design and craftsmanship lives up to the standards set by the ancient dynasties. A short flight of stairs ascends to stone door in the mountain.
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Motaz takes draws an elixir of vision and an elixir of hiding from his pathfinder pouch and quaffs both.
"Farg and Sutek, you may want to drink the elixirs of vision I lent you before. I don't trust those two," Motaz says, gesturing toward Kafar and Nefti, "not to try and lead us into a trap and try to make a break for it."
Motaz also casts another mage armor, using magnesium in the casting to extend its duration.
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Searching from traps, Motaz sneaks toward the door...
+1 for traps (includes bonus for elixir of vision)
(includes bonus for elixir of hiding)
If he finds a trap on the way, he casts guidance and attempts to disable it.
When he gets to the door, he takes his time searching it. If it's not trapped, he opens it. If there's a trap, he casts guidance and attempts to disable it. If the door is locked, he takes his time unlocking it.
+1 for traps (includes bonus for elixir of vision)
for disabling a trap
ceiling, and the walls are polished to a smooth finish that reflects and scatters any light that you introduce or that shines in from outside. Spouts in the wall replace any water removed from the fountain, replicating the effects of a decanter of endless water.
This chamber’s floor angles upward as it meets the walls, which in turn angle inward like those of a pyramid, creating a space shaped like a cut diamond. The walls are smooth and somewhat transparent, like foggy quartz, save for where three opaque doors stand to the north, east, and west. In the center of the room, a clear 5-foot diameter crystal hovers a short distances from the floor and spins slowly.
Motaz notices that the hovering crystal would shoot a ray at anyone moving beyond, and is able to disable it.
"Straight ahead," the Sapphire Sage suggests.
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Motaz carefully searches the door that the Sapphire Sage has indicated the party should take. If he finds a trap, he casts guidance and attempts to disable it.
+1 for traps (includes the bonus for the elixir of hiding)
Once the door is clear, Motaz opens it and peers through.
+1 for traps (includes the bonus for the elixir of hiding)
Just steps leading down into the darkness.....
Two curved ramps ascend gently from one end of this semicircular room toward its northwest entrance. More than a dozen statues line the intricately painted walls, and all face toward an immense crystal that projects from the southeast wall. The statues are carved in the Osiran fashion, some bearing the heads of animals, and many holding objects like staves, ankhs, oil lamps, and scepters in their supple marble hands. Four engravings in the likeness of gemstones are set into shallow circular recesses in the floor arrayed before the huge jewel.
The wall paintings portray many scenes of Garundi scholars carrying Osirian treasures, using architectural tools, surveying a mountain range, cutting gems, and receiving gifts from three supernatural figures.