Craggark's aim is good but, not good enough. As the creature is tough to hit dodging in and out of combat with Jamir. The elemental strikes at the person in closest proximity ...Jamir..
R 2
Fire E
Analia
Craggark
Jawhar
Myth
Jamir
Torvald
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”Right,” Craggark sighs, seeing his stone fall short and his ability to get off a shot without harming his friends fading. ”I guess this is why I’m a big damned hero, eh?” he laughs mirthlessly to Lia before charging the creature.
The half-orc reels at the sheer heat coming off this thing, questioning his tactics in being so close.
Craggark damages the creature with his Cestus mightily, the creature emits a low pitched wail something akin to a sizzle upon being pierced by the 1/2 orc's weapon.
R 2
Fire E
Analia
Craggark
Jawhar
Myth
Jamir
Torvald
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The elemental's fiery blow catches Jamir by surprise, but he flinches just enough to minimize the contact with it. The halfling coughs out some smoke, grins, and starts singing loudly in a practice baritone voice:
"Sometimes it's like someone took a knife, baby, edgy and dull
And cut a six-inch valley through the middle of my skull
At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet
And a freight wagon train running through the middle of my head
Only you can cool my desire
Oh-oh-oh, I'm on fire..."
With "fire," Jamir lunges forward with his rapier and strikes at the elemental.
Craggark’s hit was devastating to the Fire Elemental so it’s no surprise when Analia finishes it off with her frost ray. Torvald and Myth discover a large ruby like gem in the compartment .
One of the casters steps up and cast detect magic on the gem determining the gem posses moderate conjuration magic.
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"So we've found a magical ruby or something like that," Craggark grunts, "and a bunch of empty sarcophaguses, one of which was a monster that tried to eat my arm. And we thought Venture-Captain Dreng was prickly before we left. How prickly is he going to be with the sickly results we've had so far?"
Craggark continues to muse darkly to himself about silly venture-captains and their unrealistic aims. He follows the group, again insisting to be by Lia's side. He puts away his alchemist's fire.
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Upon hearing the discussion, Lia takes out her journal and begins to furiously scribble notes, then drawings, then more notes, almost as if her life depended on it.
She periodically looks up as the others talk and walk, but her eyes never fall on her allies, and only stay locked on the scene around them.
At some point the waves her hand over her eyes and takes a glance to the magical gem, responding with what she discovers.
"I am afraid the magic is beyond my knowledge currently. All I can tell is that it possesses moderate conjuration magics, which, coupled with what we have all just witnessed, leads me to believe it is related to the specific act of summoning fire elementals at the least. I believe with greater study at a later time, we will surely be able to decipher the full workings of it."
She then puts her head back into her journal and continues to make up for lost time with notes about what they have encountered and drawings of what they have seen.
After Analia makes some notes and draws some diagrams the group discusses which way to go next.
You guys gather yourselves and continue to head south down the unknown corridor.The long, low corridor is decorated with hieroglyphs and carvings depicting kings, gods, and sphinxes in orderly geometric rows.
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Still scribbling in her journal, trying to capture important details to return to the society and the venture captain, Lia marvels at the carvings much like Craggark.
"More of Pharaoh Sekh-pa-Mefer III’s deeds and accomplishments in life are mentioned here..." she says pointing to the specific sections of glyphs.
Tilting her head while chewing on her quill, she utters, "Then these carvings depict his death, funeral, and interment in his pyramid."
As the corridor continues to the south, she says, "Ohh... These scenes show the dead pharaoh rising as a deity, and continuing his rule over his subjects as a god-king."
About half way down the hall Analia spots an interesting oddity on the western wall. It looks to be several movable tiles with depictions of some type of magical beast. Each tile depicts a beast that has a feline form and body but the head of either a man, a woman, a falcon, a jackle, or a ram. Furthermore, it looks like these tiles are key to some type of puzzle lock to open a door!
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Jamir harumphs loudly when they reach the carvings showing the pharaoh rising as a god-king.
"This so-called divine right to rule is nothing more than a tale to prevent rebellions. As hard as it is for oppressed people to rally themselves revolt against their earthly oppressors, how much harder must it be when you have been taught since birth that merely considering such an act is not just treason, but blasphemy? Bah! As if the gods are concerned with whose pampered ass warms a throne!"
Jamir eyes the puzzle quizzically. "So we are supposed to... what? Put them into some kind of order? Maybe alphabetical? Falcon, jackal, man, ram, woman." He pauses for a moment. "That seems too simple, doesn't it?"
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"They look like Sphinxes...but with different kinds of heads...but I have only met one and she had the head of a beautiful woman...I was unaware of any other types. Is there some kind of hierarchy of Sphinxes?"
Myth suspiciously looks over the tiles and the area around the tiles...considering what they've stumbled across already, he is expecting to find traps everywhere...
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"Hmm...that could be it, but I think to be a more challenging lock it should be more difficult, and somehow specific to the Pharaoh himself..." her voice trails off and she narrows her eyes as she ponders the lock.
Suddenly her eyes go wide when Myth mentions hierarchy,and she blurts out, "You are correct. They are all sphinxes, and perhaps there is some hierarchy among them that would explain the lock!"
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"If the pharaoh came back as some king of undead beast to continue his rule, why would he now be buried in this pyramid?"
Looking at the scenes of death and rebirth, Jawhar is unimpressed. Most religions feature such imagery, and he tends to agree with Jamir's assessment, though the possibility of the pharaoh himself being undead rather than simply having undead servants is unsettling.
"Jamir, I think you are right. This culture certainly needed the influence of Sarenrae to set them on the right track. Qadira was wise to remove these so called god-kings from the throne."
As Ana speaks, he looks briefly at the puzzle, but the complexities just make his head hurt and he returns to his musing, hoping that she will have some further insights.
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Stroking his beard, Torvald considers the tiles and their symbols. "Ordering them from least to greatest seems intuitive, a hierarchy of power--not unlike a pyramid," he says at last, pointing out a few of the sigils. "I'm no expert on sphinxes mind you, but I think I've jostled loose a fact or two..."
Analia and Torvald identify all the sphinxes : Hieracosphinx, gynosphinx, cynosphinx, androsphinx, criosphinx. From your limited knowledge of the language, Orsirian is read left to right just like the modern version of the language. While your studying the tiles, Myth studies the wall and deduces that there is indeed a trap associated with the puzzle and the door it's likely to open. Some type of blade is likely to release from the ceiling should the door be opened incorrectly.
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Jawhar shrugs as well. "Sounds as likely as any other choice. With a limited number of choices, we'll find the right one eventually.
If the trap is a blade, Myth is the most likely to be able to move out of the way. He should be the one to attempt the ordering whatever we choose."
Jawhar casts Guidance on Myth for +1 to his saving throw, then steps back out of reach of the blade.
Myth jams several stone blocks in the slit that the blade springs from on the roof.
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Jamir gives Jawhar a worried look.
"Are you suggesting that we try my suggestion for ordering the tiles? I may be the finest swordsman within a thousand miles of the Inner Sea, a mesmerizing teller of tales, and the breaker of barmaids' hearts in cities and port towns from here to Whitethrone, but my learned friend, I am no solver of ancient riddles! Sweet barleybrew, man, you and Lia must be able to come up with a better idea than mine!"
The swashbuckler appears honestly terrified at the thought that his off-hand suggestion might be taken seriously, even revised to account for the different alphabet.
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"It is always possible that the answer to the riddle can be found elsewhere in the pyramid. There is a lot we have yet to explore.
There were pictures of sphinxes in the entryway, were there not? Were they in a particular order? Perhaps we will see symbols matching these if we continue exploring and leave this door for later.
It's not like it is going anywhere. It's been sitting here for thousands of years."
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"I'd guess that someone mad with power would order them most to least powerful, but if you were reading about them in a book, they'd be ordered least to most powerful," Craggark offers, realising that he's just offered two completely opposite solutions to the puzzle. "Or maybe I don't know," he ends feebly.
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At first her curiosity compels her to resist his pull, but then Lia just smiles as Craggark picks her up protectively and moves back from the trap.
"Thank you." she says softly as she looks up and over her shoulder to the frostkin.
Then she says to the group, and Myth in particular, "I agree that it is highly likely the most powerful would come first, and the rest would align behind it in order, from left to right since that is the way they read."
You hear several gears reverberate from school somewhere beyond the halls you’re standing on in. Then the sound of stone grinding against stone. There’s a slight tremor beneath your feet and then a metallic *click*. That’s when it happens.....