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"Obviously, this is just a decoy room... One where less experienced tomb raiders would stop. My family has been doing is sort of thing for centuries, so the ancients that created this room cannot fool me! Let's move on. We can always grab anything of any value on the way back. Maybe get Aram Zey a present?"
Standing back from the door, using her magically enhanced reach, Natalia pushes open the door with one hand, holding her nodachi with the other.
This long, dank hallway contains three sarcophagi arranged down the center of the floor. The floor, walls, ceiling and the sarcophagi themselves are completely covered with a layer of dull brown fuzz. A door in the eastern wall at the south end of the room provides the only exit aside from the secret door to the north. The air here is unnaturally cold.
Three sarcophagi line the middle of this corridor. The sarcophagi and walls of this corridor are covered with mold.
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"A moment, friends-- this may be some sort of spore-bearing vegetation, or otherwise harmful..." Sharna stands by the door of the room, peering at the growths on the wall.
If the mold is not dangerous, Sharna waves her hand for the group to go ahead, positioning herself at the rear, and waves Ra back to his position on Natalia's shoulder,
Ideally, Sharna would have had time to study the mold before Lady Natalia entered the room. However, the crypt has yet to provide ideal situations. Natalia doesn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary about the sarcophagi, until she approaches the middle one, causing it to erupt in a shower of stone. A figure wrapped from head to toe in ancient strips of moldering linen arises from the shattered sarcophagus, covered in a thick carpet of brown mold, except where its eyes glow a baleful red. It then starts to move with a shuffling gait.
Mummies are resistant to weapons, but vulnerable to fire. They're known for causing even the staunchest of warriors to cower with despair at the sight of them, and their rotting bodies are able to transfer a cursed disease that acts swiftly and lethally.
Party
Shandor
Al Suresh
Sharna
Natalia
Rodrigo
Zaquielle
Critters
Wrapped Figure
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"Damnation," Sharna mutters. "The brown mold wreathing that mummy is only helped by fire, though cold would vanquish it... Mind the mummy's claws-- they frequently carry a cursing disease! And the very sight of these undead can instill fear into the soul..."
Her warnings given, Sharna takes a step inside the room, and the mummy's dreadful aura.
Sharna's eyes once more burn with a dull red light above her veil. "Be cursed as you yourself curse others," she intones to the mummy.
(Ra shrieks about how the undead taste terrible, but otherwise stays on Sharna's shoulder.)
Shouting out her warnings, Sharna curses the cursed mummy, then cackles wildly at the things misfortune.
Unfortunately, it is misfortunate that it is not misfortunate as the mummy shrugs off her baleful glance.
Lady Natalia swings her blade with all the strength she can muster, aided by her large size and causes significant damage with her nodachi, but not enough to cut it in half. She shivers in joy at the prospect of destroying this monstrosity so quickly! Or is that because of the cold air surrounding it?
Al Suresh finally breaks free of his immobility and moves up to aid Lady Natalia, entering the unnaturally cold air surrounding the mummy, but his swing just glances off the mummy's rags.
Zaquielle buries an arrow in the mummy's side, then shouts out instructions to her companions on how best to tackle the undead, "Stick it harder with the pointy end!" and "Don't let it touch you!" being the some of the least informative bits, but there is still much to gain from her advice.
The group then looks to Rodrigo, waiting to see what he does. The mummy waits patiently for him to make his move.
Rodrigo moves into the room to offer his assistance, running down the long room and around Al Suresh to the other side of the mummy.
Facing the one who awoke it, the mummy folds its hands together and hammers a blow at Lady Natalia!
The mummy slams its fists into Lady Natalia's abdomen with a loud crack, forcing the air from her and causing her already dented armor to force itself even further into her personage. She feels light-headed and falls to the ground, unconscious.
Party
Shandor
Al Suresh [41/45 HP; 22 non-lethal]
Sharna [Ra - 20/21 HP]
Natalia [6/43 HP; 27 non-lethal; unconscious]
Rodrigo [45/46 HP; 20 non-lethal]
Zaquielle
Critters
Mummy [23/60 HP]
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"Problematic," Sharna sighs at Natalia dropping to the ground under the mummy's powerful blow. "Ra, if you would be so kind...."
Sharna's hands fly in a quick pattern, and she mutters under her breath. Divine energy sparks from her hands to the hawk, who swoops forward to Natalia's prone form. Then she reaches into her robes and produces a vial of holy water.
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"რა მოხდა? იღუპება, უხეში არსება!"
Noticing Ra once more flying into harms way for her, Natalia decides she owes the bird a treat of some sort... Maybe a rabbit or something?
Without leaving the floor, she draws her backup cold iron nodachi, and attacks.
Her luck is not with her on this day.
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Ouch, this cold hurt ! We must destroy this creature quickly !
Don't worry Lady Natalia, we will defeat the creature and avange your pain !
Then remembering she doesn't understood him and said
Rodrigo turned to the creature and said
You tried to kill my friend, my name is Rodrigo Ortega, prepare to die... a second time !
With that with of movement of his red cape he hide his movement feinting on his right to strike on the left, fighting with great expertise and with all his power.
Sharna sends Ra to heal Lady Natalia, who wakes up after the raven touches down on her shoulder yet again. Groggily, she swings her spear about wildly, missing the mummy by a large margin.
A barrage of missiles arc from Shandor's fingers, slamming into the mummy, followed quickly by a savage slice from Al Suresh, unleashing cold and electricity coursing through the mummy's body. At last, the mummy falls, crumpling into dust, leaving behind only rags and a tiny box affixed to a leather cord.
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"Very good, Ra," Sharna murmurs to her companion as the bird smugly returns to her arm. "Lady Landros, are you well? And well struck to the gentlemen, of course."
Sharna glances casually over the mummy's remains, and uses her club to fish out the little box from the dust-and-mold.
"Hmmn. Interesting. A phylactery, often used by those in service of the gods to be sure they are not in violation of the wishes of their deity." Sharna smiles slightly. "Our paladin of Aroden is clearly too in tune with that god to need such a thing.
"Does anyone else require healing? I am happy to use your wands upon you."
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Natalia takes out her wand, and starts burning through charges. She's going to have to get a new one, soon, she thinks.
"I am fine, thank you Miss al-Subaiyyat."
Natalia loos a little concerned about her choice of words.
"The creature evidently took offense to my valorous strike, and got a lucky hit in. I'll have to talk to my armorer when we get home, and check to see if there is a flaw in my cuirass.
"If we have found everything in this funerary room, we should move on. As soon as everyone is healed up, of course."
Natalia moves up to the next door, taking a look at it, seeing if it is safe.
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'Those Varisians always have to push it, don't they?' thinks Natalia. 'Just when he was beginning to be charming, he has to go and prove his barbarism. Well, when my family regains its standing in the Empire, perhaps we'll raise an Army of Exploration, and go civilize Varisia. Aroden knows that it is long overdue.'
To Rodrigo, she chuckles. "Yes, it is a tad bit chilly in here. Shall we hurry out of here? Perhaps if this last room is the true resting place of the Dog Pharoah, we'll be able to retire to warmer climes."
'He'll probably get all excited over that. Silly Varisians. They are all driven by their base emotions, unlike we civilized people of Taldor.' she muses to herself.
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Zaquielle hears Al-Suresh's request for healing and takes her wand from her pack, "Here, you fought well against the mummy, I'm glad you were not hit by its malevolent force." The wand glows with a warm healing magic, as it touches Al Suresh.
She watches the exchanges between Rodigo and the Lady, watching their reactions, but doing nothing to get between them. She shrugs, In this place of undead, its not the time for childish talk. as her face hardens and ready to move ahead.
Examining the door, Lady Natalia is pleased when she finds no traps on or around it.
Lady Natalia, having called upon the power of her supposedly dead god, busts the door down into a chamber that was once the equal to the fake treasure chamber in true grandeur, but the marshy environment has done its work well - the tops of the treasure shelves are mere islands in the stagnant water. Most of the shelves are empty, with only a few treasures remaining. The grand, rune-covered sarcophagus of the Dog Pharaoh lies open on its dais.
The handful of items on the bare shelves, mere islands now surrounded by 5' deep swamp water, are marked with a red chalk "X." The central dais features an ornate sarcophagus, laid open to reveal the mummified remains of the Dog Pharaoh, with his head torn off.
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Rodrigo seems to believe Lady Natalia words and said
I agree my lady, the sight of the Pharao treasure will be a warm view and your parole is True, as the Paladin you are.
with another flowrished bow to Lady Natalia he followed his comrades to the next room
Rodrigo look a little disapointed a while looking everywhere he said
Look ! I see a slight current in the water. There must be an underwater source. May be all is not gone ?
Rodrigo began to search the source, asking for Abadar's guidance
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Sharna once more settles into the rear of the group as they proceed. She nods in agreement at the observations of the others.
"A quick test, my good Rodrigo..."
She carries numerous herbs with her. Sharna sprinkles a handful of dried sage on the water's surface, and watches to see where the slight current takes the tiny flakes.
After a while, Rodrigo and Ra collaborate, sharing notes and findings. Rodrigo fills Ra in on what he observed, and Ra just shrieks at him. Which probably means he's hungry.
With further aid from Sharna, it is soon discovered that water flows into the room from an underwater passage coming from the west, and then back out of the room via a crack in the base of the wall to the east.
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"Hmmm," says Sharna after some study. "Lady Landros, while you are yet large enough to be at no risk from the water, might you probe with a weapon and gain an idea of the size of the aperture beneath the surface, on the western wall, from whence this current flows? If it is large enough for us to progress through, this might be worthwhile."