Risen from the Sands
Dotting. Link to character sheet is in alias, will delete this a bit later.
Risen From the Sands takes place in the nation of Osirion, an exotic land of sun-baked desert, dusty ruins, and the ancient tombs of forgotten pharaohs in the northeast corner of the continent of Garund.
In the depths of the Osirian desert, a sandstorm has recently uncovered a mighty pyramid that was buried beneath the sand for ages. Lost for centuries, the pyramid has not yet revealed its secrets, but one crumbling papyrus scroll found in the Great Library of Tephu contains references to the tomb of an ancient Osirian king known only as the Pharaoh of Sphinxes. Word of the pyramid's discovery has spread far and fast. Archaeologists, explorers, and tomb robbers from across the Inner Sea are gathering in Osirion's taverns and inns to plan expeditions into the desert, each vying to be the first to plunder the tomb's treasures.
The adventure assumes that the PCs all know each other and have agreed to travel to the pyramid of the Pharaoh of Sphinxes to explore it and recover its treasures. The pyramid lies approximately 90 miles west-southwest of the city of Eto in the inhospitable region known as the Parched Dunes, a journey of over a week on foot through trackless desert. The use of desert-acclimated mounts such as camels reduces the travel time to just 4-1/2 days.
Plodding the streets of the bazaar, Orin perused the wares of an old shop. The merchant instantly shouting to all that will listen to purchase what he calls "dead sea tupperware."
I have no need of these trinkets. What I need a drink that doesnt have sand in it.
Pulling his cloak up higher, Orin continued his push through the bustling crowd.
Waking up early before any journey into the desert is always exciting. New things to learn and a chance to prepare for something special.
Heading to his most frequented temple, Khonn prays to Irori asking for his blessing and power for the day, as to make this journey easier. After recieving power from the master of masters Rhonn finds a training room. While never quite as good with this aspect of his teaching he pulls out his trusty heavy mace and practices against a target dummy. Afterwords he grabs a few books for the road, asking the clerk for items he has not read before.
Sitting down to read new knowledge he hopes to open his mind up even more. Though he is not sure if his diety seems to notice.
With a sign Khonn leaves the temple, and drops by the merchant quarter to grab some fresh supplies.
With a slight spring in his step he heads to the location where he is to meet with his companions. Off to discover the secrets of this new temple in the sands.
Your party arrives at the pyramid.
An incredible man-made mountain, the pyramid rises out of the desert sands, a relic of an earlier age. Its limestone casing blocks are weathered from millennia of scouring sands, but the structure seems solid and intact. A stone wall, buttressed by drifts of sand, surrounds the entire structure. To the east stands a squat stone building,connected to the pyramid by a long, covered causeway. No visible entrances to the pyramid's interior can be seen.
The pyramid of the Pharaoh of Sphinxes is nearly 160 feet tall and 250 feet square at its base, and is constructed of giant limestone blocks carefully fitted together without mortar. Scaling the steep sides of the pyramid is possible with a successful DC 20 Climb check, though characters must first cross through the temenos to reach the pyramid's base. The exterior of the pyramid is featureless, with no doors or windows. The only entrance into the pyramid lies through the outer temple and causeway.
The sand-filled courtyard between the pyramid and the low wall encircling it, known as the temenos, was designated as sacred ground to both the pharaoh and the gods. The sandstone wall surrounding the temenos protected it from the disorder of the world outside, though its function is more symbolic than defensive. The wall is 30 feet high and scaling it requires a successful DC 25 Climb check.
Unless otherwise noted, all rooms and corridors within the pyramid are dark. The ceilings are 10 feet high, and all doors are made of stone.
Looking at the temple in the distance, Khonn seems to get visibly excited. "Ah! There it is. Days on the sand have brought little joy. I don't know about you, but I am curious about what we will find.
Looking between everyone, "So. Is it treasure? Glory? Knowledge? What do each of you seek?"
Dakoa looks at Khonn, and raises an eyebrow. It's the one expression that can actually make it out from the balaclava he always wears.
"I'd settle for somewhere I can empty out my boots. Any more sand in them and there won't be room for my feet."
”I’m with ya there,” Orin grumbles as he brushes some of the sand off his shoulders. Prodding his his camel forward, Orin continues, ”Hopefully this place actually has some way to get inside and out of this blasted sand. I’d hate to have to smash our way in if it means we’re camping in this grit.”
Your party arrives at the outer temple.
A rectangular building constructed of large stone blocks sits on the desert sands to the east of the pyramid. A wide portico opens to the east, its ceiling supported by two rows of red granite columns. A dark passage leads deeper into the temple to the west.
The sunlight outside the portico provides normal light in this chamber. The portico walls were once carved in relief, but millennia of exposure to windblown sand has worn the carvings away.
What would you like to do?
Dakoa dismounts, securing his camel to the outside of the building. He shrugs the bow from his shoulder and walks forward into the outer room. Shading his eyes to help them adjust to the dimmer inside light, he peers towards the darkened passageway.
Walking up to the wall and the warn carvings, "Wow, wonder what these said.." hovering his hands over the wall, not quite touching them.
Looking toward the exit, "Shall we continue on? Who would like to lead?"
Go ahead and roll perceptions if you'd like.
Looking around the room. In a bit of awe. Maybe peaking down the next door a bit.
[dice=Perception]1d20 + 5
Seeing his companions look from one to the other, Orin steps forward. “I’ll head things up, I can’t do much about traps, but it’s not like anything this old should having anything that could threaten us.”
Orin casually walks to the front of the group then slows as he focuses on where he placed his feet.
A pair of carved and brightly painted granite columns support the ceiling of this darkened, roughly triangular chamber. To the east, stone statues of a regal man holding a and flail and wearing a striped cloth headdress stand on either side of the chamber, though the head of one of the two statues now lies cracked and broken on the alabaster floor. Two more stone statues depicting winged creatures with leonine bodies and falcons' heads sit beyond. The smooth granite walls are decorated with hieroglyphs and faded murals that depict loyal subjects and slaves presenting offerings to a pharaoh who sits on a gilded throne, flanked by winged, falcon-headed lions. A passageway to the west stretches off into darkness.
Sunlight from the eastern doorway provides only dim light in this chamber.
Orin Sarock, you believe you see a trap (purple).
Stepping forward and looking at the collumns. Racking his brain for the knowledge he knows he has.
Feeling stumped, which is not a great feeling, Khonn casts Recall on himself in the attempt to try digging into his knowledge again.
Orin slows his pace and stops near the would be trap and points. ”Well I’ll be! It looks like some of these old traps have survived. Best watch you step lads.”
Pulling out some chalk Orin marks the area in front of the trap, then stows his materials After securing his chalk, Orin steps over to examine some of the statues.
Enjilo follows more sedately behind the rest of the group. The heat and dirt feeling more like home than any place he had ever visited and the history of the monument is nearly a tangible thing as he crosses the threshold of the temple. While not being an elemental himself, Enjilo's ability to shift into one for small periods of time spawned months of research into elementals and their history, and with - rumor has it - a fire elemental acting as a high ranking adviser to the current Pharaoh, Enjilo can barely contain his excitement at unlocking knowledge and treasure long buried under the sands of the desert. Perhaps he will even be able to find a mentor who can guide him in unlocking any latent power running through his veins.
Enjilo is brought out of his reverie by Orin's warning, and, with a belated sense of caution, pulls his scimitar from its scabbard at his hip. Anyone paying attention would see Enjilo's eyes flare ember red for a brief moment and the very edge of his blade begins to glow a dull orange, barely visible at all in the light.
"I'm not one for hieroglyphs generally, but I have a decent grasp of some of the elemental languages. If anybody is interested, I can provide a sample of them to keep an eye out for."
Dakoa follows Orin's lead stepping over the trap.
"If I see any squiggles that I can make out, I'll let you know. I suspect most of it will be in this picture-text though."
Khonn & Orin know:
You identify the pharaoh depicted in the carvings and statues as Sekh-pa-Mefer III, the Pharaoh of Sphinxes. Sekh-pa-Mefer III is a well-documented friend of sphinxes that lived in the deserts of Osirion. These creatures were common to see in the public court of the pharaoh. This friendship led him to claim that the sphinxes had given him the secret to eternal life, promising that he would return after death to continue to lead the country as a god.
"Ah.. Sekh-pa-Mefer III. As history tells it, he was promised to return from the dead and become a god. So either he was lied to, or we are going to see some very interesting things."
Attempting to dodge the trap, now that it has been pointed out. "Shall we continue? I don't think these glyphs are going to reveal anything. Far too faded"
Following Khonn's example, Orinn attempts to jump the trap and calls back to the others, "Come on then, we may as well move forward."
If you're trying to jump, roll me an acrobatics with the appropriate penalties and buffs.
Khonn tries to jump over the area and fails. A cascade of falling rocks collapse from the ceiling into the middle of the room. At the same time, a stone portcullis drops in the archway cutting off your path (black squares). The rocks will hit everyone within the yellow box.
Khonn fails to jump over the section and triggers the trap.
Khonn FF AC 16
20/x2
Orin FF AC 18
20/x2
What would you like to do?
As the rocks come tumbling down onto him, "OW!! Ok. traps still work. I am going to stay back and maybe we should try breaking them before letting ourselves get hit by it.
Stepping back a bit, pulling out the wand he brought. "Orin, you look hurt. Can I help?"
Khonn steps back and looks at the portcullis and around the room. "Hmm is there a method to open it? Or are we going to need to lift it?"
You think you can either damage/break it or lift it.
Enjilo shakes his head in disapproval at the stumbling half-elf, at least until the ceiling rumbles and drops several dozen pounds of rubble over him and the other two, who were unfortunate enough to be caught within the trapped area. Then Enjilo laughs.
"Be careful. There's a trap there. Oh wait..." Enjilo says in monotone as Khonn steps beck out of the narrow path. "Can anybody tell whether the pressure plates are currently pressed in? Will we trigger the falling rocks again if we continue to walk back and forth on it, or is the rubble holding the plates down?" Enjilo steps forward, carefully paying attention to, and as much as possible, staying out from underneath whatever indicators in the ceiling would identify the range of the trap.
If nobody else is looking, or while they're occupied by the portcullis, Enjilo kneels down at the edge of the pressure plates to test for any indication that they are still active, ready to dive to the side in case it gets triggered again.
You look up and you now see the sky, you don't think there are any rocks that could possibly fall on you now. unless of course some random flying creature decides to swoop in and bombard you. The plates are back to how they were before being pressed.
Enjilo finishes inspecting the pressure plates and looks over to the rest of the group, "Obviously there are no more rocks to fall, but the plates have been reset. I can't tell if there might be secondary or tertiary traps to be triggered, so please carefully step over these stones if you need to move back through. That being said, any luck on that portcullis?"
Nodding to Eljilo, "Yes. Now that I know this place is still actively dangerous. I am going to stay back a bit."
Looking at the barrier. "I don't think I am going to be much help lifting it." Looking over to Oread Orin, "Looks like you might be the one to do it. Do you mind if I help you out a bit? I can give you a bit of a boost, as well as guarantee your strength will only ever be about your average ability. Do you wish assistance?"
Dakoa releases a string of expletives as the rocks fall on him. Climbing out from under the rocks, he stands off to the side, wary of further traps. "If you need, I can try a bit of acid on the door, but it might take a while that way."
"Do it. It seems like we've got time to kill for now. While you're working on that, I'm going to take another look around and see if there might be a switch for it."
You look around the room and you're pretty confident there is nothing going on here. It seems the only way in, is past that portcullis.
You do not see anything that will assist with the portcullis. All you see is a long tunnel and it gets too dark to see any further down it. It's hard to judge how deep it goes.
"Actually Dakoa, hold up for a second. Let's see if we can just 'open the door' instead of trying to break it down, just to find out it's already unlocked." Enjilo steps carefully over the pressure plates and attempts to lift the portcullis off of the ground.
Enjilo begins to lift it, you're doing well but you think you need aid from your allies.
“Allright then.” Dakota walks over to lend a hand lifting the portcullis.
Strength check please.
Dakoa starts to assit, but it seems like you might need a little more help.
Digging in his bag, Khonn grabs a potion. "One of you strong people could use this to help I believe I would be of no help what so ever. Just drink this, and it should make you stronger"
Hands out a Potion of Bulls Strength. He hands it in the direction of Orin who seems the strongest.
Finally, I made it! Garidan took a sip from his waterskin and started to size up the massive pyramide.
"Impressive!"
Now, how to get inside and find some shade? Eventually he found the outer temple and he was not surprised to find fresh tracks. He knew of the group that left the city just before him.
Without much stealth he entered the outer room. "Do you need a hand with that?" The group was quite occupied with some fresh rubble and noticed him only now. He hoped it wasn't them that vandalized these beautiful portcullis.
With a closer look it appeared the way further in wax blocked and they tried to lift the barrier. He grabbed his any-tool and formed it into a crowbar. Then he applied some concentrated force.
Garidan arrives and lifts the portcullis with his any-tool and it locks into place. You think that the trap might also be reset and to avoid the purple squares.
Shafts of sunlight shine down from slots in the ceiling of this long, straight corridor, illuminating the piles of sand that have accumulated beneath each slot. Elaborate carved reliefs, their paint now faded with time, cover the walls on both sides of the passage, depicting the legendary deeds of a great pharaoh.
The length of this causeway seems to be never ending. After walking about 480 ft you see a 10-foot square stone pyramid stands in the causeway, blocking your way. This pyramid is about 80 ft away from you right now. What do you do?
Excited for the wall being opened, glad that he is not stuck behind the wall.. He looks at the carved reliefs..
"Hmmm" Frustrated by his lack of recalling info, Khonn petitions Irori for another chance.
"Well it looks like this is the right place. These carvings are Sekh-pa-Mefer III, the Pharaoh of Sphinxes. Pretty big deal for his time."
A bit too busy looking at the carvings to look down the hall. Trying not to get too far ahead this time. Going first might not be the best plan.