Saga of the Sages

Game Master Nathanael Love

Round 2
Both Penthesilea's shots miss narrowly, but Nardic strikes home and dents the creature.

The cobra turns and strikes at Dmitri, lashing out at the nearest target.
bite: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Whiff!

Turn Order:
1/2. Penthesilea & Nardic 21
3. Iron Cobra 19
4. Kenji 18
5. Zarisha 17
6. Drea 15
7. Dmitri 14
8. Pirro 9

Status:
Damage done to cobra- 7

Kenji- 23/26
Dmitri- 9/11
Drea 3/9
If I missed any healing from these HP totals, let me know.

That brings up Kenji-Pirro in round 2; then Pen & Nardic at the top of round 3.

Nardic had healed me after the damage from the trap. Drea is at 9/9 hp.

Kenji again attacks with his bardiche with reach!

MW Bardiche, reach, pa : 1d20 + 7 - 1 ⇒ (1) + 7 - 1 = 7
Slashing, 2h Str 18 +6, pa: 1d10 + 6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 3 = 12

It does not look like Kenji used his guidance, so that's still pending on him for up to 9 more rounds.

Pirro concentrates and then turns to Penthesilea to channel the wisdom of the spirits into her.

Guidance on Penthesilea

Zarisha: Readies an Action to move into Drea's square if Drea moves out or falls.

Hearing the sound as his blade clanks of the cobra's iron hide, Dmitri knows the attack isn't fully effective, yet he doesn't have a lot of versatility in the matter and just presses the attack more, inspired by the bard's call.

Even as he swings this time, he knows the blow won't have the strength behind it to damage the metal monster...

Dmitri blade, IC: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 1 = 15
Dmg, if hit, IC: 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4

Thanks Pirro, I am keeping the guidance for a potential saving throw. :-)

"Okay, okay, it's quick. That's fine, just adjust aaaand..."

Ignoring Cover
Longbow (IC, PBS, RS, Guidance): 1d20 + 6 + 1 + 1 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 6 + 1 + 1 - 2 + 1 = 23
Piercing: 1d8 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 1 + 1 = 7
Longbow (IC, PBS, RS): 1d20 + 6 + 1 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 6 + 1 + 1 - 2 = 25
Piercing: 1d8 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 2 + 1 + 1 = 11

"Yes! Come on everyone! We can do this together!"

Continuing IC

Melee Khopesh Attack (Slashing), IC: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 102d6 + 4 ⇒ (5, 5) + 4 = 14

Drea slashes and misses. Cursing, they drop the khopesh and draw their greatsword.

"This ancient weapon is too awkward!" the sylph claims after missing the iron snake.

Free action: drop khopesh. Move action: draw greatsword. I plan on using my move action next turn to drop the shield, but it's still there for now and I'm holding (not wielding) the greatsword in one hand.

Nadric's heart lifts a little when his arrow makes a small dent in the metal snake. With no ideas for what else to do, all he can hope for is another lucky shot.

Maintaining luck bonus, shooting again through cover

Attack, PBS, IC, luck: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 5 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 10
Damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 7

Round 2/3

Kenji swings wide missing altogether.

Drea misses with the Khopesh, then drops it, switching to their great sword.

Dmitri misses as well, the small well armored creature avoiding and absorbing attacks.

Pirro casts guidance.

Nardic's arrows misses, but poth of Penthesilea's find home!

Her final shot destroys the construct!

Status at end of fight:
Kenji- 23/26
Dmitri- 9/11

The danger dealt with, you are able to catalog the items here in Akhentepi's burial chamber:

Doubling back, you head to A16, the last remaining unexplored chamber. . .

The center of this large octagonal room is a raised square platform a few inches above the floor, with a stone pillar at each corner. A gold-trimmed sarcophagus sits in the center of the platform, flanked by two statues of humanoid beings with canine heads, each of which holds an ankh in one of its crossed arms. Stone double doors exit the room to the north and south.

The statues are of who is by now our old friend, Anubis.

The northern door out of this chamber is locked & appears stuck.

Drea exclaims happily the identities of the potions and spends a good deal of time concentrating on Akhentepi's armor and mask in order to determine how best to honour the general upon liberating his possessions. The sylph nods at the gold leaf decoration.

"We would not have the ability to bring out the sarcophagus, nor would it be exactly proper, but I would very much like to return here once we've completed our exploration so as to carefully remove this. It would be worth a good deal of money."

Drea further explains the stanching property of the general's magic armour.

"It magically reduces bleeding damage from severe wounds by providing a tourniquet-like effect to its wearer. Truly, a wondrous item! It would be worth a great deal of coin, but it also could be quite useful for the right person. I am not that right person but perhaps one of you is?"

Drea reluctantly leaves the chamber and follows the party into the next room.

Perception Check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

Drea now carries their greatsword, recently re-infused with psychic energy, in one hand and the shield in the other. The combination looks unwieldy. Drea acknowledges this.

"If we were to be attacked, I would spend time dropping the shield before returning the melee. I think the shield could be helpful given its properties, however, so I'll keep using it until such a time."

They nod at the perceived logic of their own words.

Both resistance and lead blades have expired.

"I think I'll stick to my mail, thanks."

Penthesilea looks around, but waits on some second opinions before trying the door or sarcophagus.

1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

Nadric's eyes widen at the overwhelming collection of items they find. He moves towards it instinctively, and then halts to mentally go over the rules they were given. He ticks them off on his fingers. "Hmm, honor the departed, yes. This is... Akhentepi himself." He trembles a little at the gravity of the realization that the man's preserved body is right in front of them. "Shall I document everything before we remove them?" He pulls out his journal and an inkpen and carefully makes notes of which valuable items are in which of the chests and bags. "He was truly honored by the ones who buried him here, wasn't he?" Nadric muses somberly.

In the other room that they passed before, he says, "I think we found the main treasure of this place already. Still, no harm in looking around." He does a brief scan of the chamber.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

"If we just found Akhentepi, I wonder who this is, then. A relative? Or maybe a fake." He curiously approaches the sarcophagus to get a closer look. (Just looking!)

"That seems excessive," Pirro comments to Drea's suggestion of scraping the gold leaf off of the sarcophagus. "But if you feel that you must, we will not stop you."

He nods in agreement with Nadric. "Yes! I will take my own notes as well," he says. He sits on the floor and begins writing on loose leaf paper while the others collect the treasure of the tomb.

----------

"His wife or child," Pirro answers Nadric's question. "That is what the ancient writings indicated."

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

"You will not," Zarisha says in a forlorn voice. "All things fade to nothingness in time. What of it if tomb robbers speed the process?"

----------

Zarisha drifts around the room, searching.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

Drea considers Pirro's words.

"I see what you mean. Perhaps it would be more honorific to leave the gold leaf. Your counsel is wise."

Dmitri passes on the magical armor, more comfortable in his well-worn leathers than some ancient magical stuff. His eyes are agog at the amount of treasure in the funerary chamber, more gold then he has seen in one place before now. He helps scoop up the precious stones and coins to carry them out along with the other useful items.

Doubling back once the others have done their note-taking, Dmitri sees the room with the raised sarcophagus and enters, looking around for sighs of trouble.

"Well, then," Pirro says, "Shall we collect the plunder we left in place and make our return?"

Do I understand correctly that we have no unexplored paths (that we know of, at least)?

"I do not believe our job has finished. We have a sarcophagus of honour but I'm frankly not sure who it would've been for," Drea says, moving to examine the sarcophagus more fully.

"We also have a locked door to our north."

Oh, that post never went through...

"His wife according to the hieroglyphs on the walls," Pirro explains to Drea.

"How do you surmise that?" Drea asks, looking for the hieroglyphs Pirro seems to be referencing.

There's no mention of hieroglyphs in this chamber, according to our GM.

"We discussed it, not that long ago," Pirro says. "Although, battle can scatter the brain, I've heard."

[ulr=https://paizo.com/campaigns/v5748p75ivk0g/gameplay&page=2#97]A5[/url]

We are in room A15, Pirro, unless I am mistaken. GM?

Drea glares at the Keleshite.

”Your sarcastic inference is noted and is not appreciated. There are no hieroglyphs present in this room.”

"Now, now," Nadric says with both hands outstretched in a conciliatory gesture. "I think Pirro is merely saying that earlier we found reference to his family members being buried in this tomb, and we haven't seen any of them yet, so this must be one of them. It seems like a logical enough assumption to me." He looks closely at the sarcophagus to see if there are any signs to back up the idea.

He'll do whatever he can to investigate the sarcophagus, and then look closely at the northern door to see if it's locked or if it's possible to force it open. If there's nothing along those lines then he's ready to leave.

"It is a Nadric says," Pirro says.

"I can help force that door, if we don't have a more artful approach," says Dmitri trying to be helpful.

Kenji shakes his head.

”Strength can be art too with the right discipline!“

Apologies, yes we are in A15

As Nardic is examining the sarcophagus, it suddenly springs to life!

Round 1

Turn Order:
1. Drea 22
2. Zarisha 20
3. Kenji 18
4. Pirro 16
5. Penthesilea 11
6. Dmitri 8
7. Nardic 6
8. Sarcophagus 4

That will bring up the entire party before the slow moving animated sarcophagus! Sorry again for the delay

Kenji walks forward and attacks with his greatsword.

”Everybody is trying to hurt us!!“

Greatsword, power attack : 1d20 + 6 - 1 ⇒ (17) + 6 - 1 = 22
Slashing, 2h Str 18 +6, pa +3: 2d6 + 6 + 3 ⇒ (1, 1) + 6 + 3 = 11

"Woah, what?!" Nadric jerks back in confusion when the sarcophagus under his hands stops being quite so stationary.

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

He quickly picks up on the magic at work here. "It's not really alive! It's been magically animated. But this outer shell will be hard to crack, just like the snake and the little statues." (It has hardness 5 unless your weapon is adamantine.)

He pulls out his rapier and tries to stab at it to pin it back down somehow.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
Piercing damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Possible crit: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16
Crit damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Knowledge Arcana Check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Drea reacts by dropping her scarab shield and bringing her greatsword down hard on the moving sarcophagus.

Move action: drop shield. Standard action: attack.

Melee Attack, Cold Iron: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 202d6 + 5 ⇒ (1, 1) + 5 = 7 Ugh. That damage.

Dmitri slips around the other side of the sarcophagus, swinging his blade even though it may not have much effect against the metal foe but unfortunately he trips on the stairs, and nearly falls, making his attack a mess before it begins.

Dmitri blade: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Penthesilea sighs then darts to the side to get a clearer shot.

Longbow (PBS): 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 6 + 1 = 20
Piercing: 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 1 = 9

Zarisha drifts over to the animated sarcophagus (or where I think it is supposed to be).

Status: Incorporeal

Pirro moves to stand next to the archer and instills her with the guidance of the spirits.

Guidacne on Penthesilea

Round 1
Drea strikes the animated coffin, but deals little damage through the hardness.

Zarisha floats over the sarcophagus. It's still in the central square where it was set originally

Kenji strikes it as well, the force of his blow also blunted by hardness.

Pirro casts guidance, then Pentehsilea fires and hits.

Dmitri misses with his strike, then Nardic's arrows catches a hinge and critically hitting.

Now the sarcophagus lashes out at Nardic who it noticed first-

Bite: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Grab attempt: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

Slam: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Turn Order:
1. Drea 22
2. Zarisha 20
3. Kenji 18
4. Pirro 16
5. Penthesilea 11
6. Dmitri 8
7. Nardic 6
8. Sarcophagus 4

Nardic- 10/17
Damage done to Sarcophagus 16

That will bring up the party for round 2.

I hate to be the one to point this out, but wasn't that bite a critical hit?

Drea grunts as they bring their greatsword down heavily on the strangely-animated sarcophagus once more.

Melee Attack, Cold Iron: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 142d6 + 5 ⇒ (3, 1) + 5 = 9

Drea then steps back from the fracas in preparation of casting a spell.

5 foot step back.

Kenji again attacks with his greatsword.

”I will end this thing!!“

Greatsword, power attack : 1d20 + 6 - 1 ⇒ (10) + 6 - 1 = 15
Slashing, 2h Str 18 +6, pa +3: 2d6 + 6 + 3 ⇒ (2, 5) + 6 + 3 = 16

bite confirm: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

Yes, that was a critical threat, fortunately the Karma says it didn't crit.

Round 2

Taking another stroke with his sword, Dmitri slashes at the animated coffin. Again his blade clangs off the metal, likely not harming the target at all.

Dmitri dueling sword: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
Dmg if hit: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Not sure the position of the sarcophagus actually, but if possible Dmitri would move to flank with an ally. If so, add +2 to the attack roll.

Phew, dodged a metaphorical bullet!

Nadric just barely snatches his hand back out of the way when the animated sarcophagus tries to grab hold of him. "I'm good out here, I have no desire to lie in a sarcophagus before I've lived out my full life, thank you anyway!"

Since he already has the weapon out and it did make a scratch just now, he attacks again with his rapier. Also activating my last round of luck

Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 + 2 = 17
Piercing damage: 1d6 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 1 + 2 = 5

Pirro concentrates on bringing Zarisha more fully into the world.

Zarisha steps to the side as she deepens in color and opacity. A shield and mace manifest in her hands. The phantom swings the ghostly mace and slams the shield at the stone construct. "Even stone fades to nothing in time," she says.

Status: Ectoplasmic (DR 5/slashing)

Realizing that every shot has to count, Penthesilea takes a moment to strengthen her bow. Gravity Bow

Round 2
Drea chops, misses, then backs off.

Pirro manifests Zarisha into ectoplasmic form.

Zarisha hits twice, but her attacks barely damage the hardy construct.

Kenji's attack is more effective, leaving a big gash in the casing.

Penthesilea casts her spell.

Both Dmitri and Nardic's shots fail to damage the sarcophagus.

The thing snaps at Kenji-
Bite: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Slam: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

It misses with the bite, but manages to catch Kenji with the slam!

Turn Order:
1. Drea 22
2. Zarisha 20
3. Kenji 18
4. Pirro 16
5. Penthesilea 11
6. Dmitri 8
7. Nardic 6
8. Sarcophagus 4

Nardic- 10/17
Kenji- 18/26
Damage done to Sarcophagus 28

That brings up the party in round 3.

”This thing is tough!!!!“

Greatsword, power attack : 1d20 + 6 - 1 ⇒ (2) + 6 - 1 = 7
Slashing, 2h Str 18 +6, pa +3: 2d6 + 6 + 3 ⇒ (1, 6) + 6 + 3 = 16

Drea's eyes grow silvery for a brief moment as they concentrate on their greatsword.

Cast lead blades on greatsword. No move action this turn.

"I believe I have an idea," the sylph says in response to the ifrit.

"Ha! Wow! The kick on this bow is insane. Sorry guys, not used to this yet!"

Longbow: 1d20 + 6 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (5) + 6 + 1 - 2 = 10
Piercing: 2d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (3, 2) + 2 + 1 = 8
Longbow: 1d20 + 6 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 6 + 1 - 2 = 9
Piercing: 2d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2, 2) + 2 + 1 = 7

Once again, Dmitri can only grit his teeth and ope for the best, with no magic at his disposal, his options are limited.

Dmitri dueling sword: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Dmitri Crit confirm: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15 with flank?
Dmg w/o crit: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Additional dmg, if crit: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

the damage dice god hates me with a passion...Third straight 1 on the d8.